Lonesome Road (Discontinued)
by BisonMan
Summary: Life ain't easy. P.S. To the few of you that still follow this story, I will be restarting it anew. There were a lot of things in this version that I didn't do well and I'm creating this new story to remedy that. (Dead Man's Hand is the name, if you're interested)
1. Anywhere I Wander

The Courier hated teleportation. The feeling of nausea one got was incredibly uncomfortable. When he first teleported, he was unable to keep his dinner of Salisbury Steak in his stomach. This time was no different. As soon as his molecules reassembled, he felt the bile leap up into his throat. He quickly took off the Elite Riot Helmet and took a breath of fresh air.

This was when he knew something was wrong.

Instead of the familiar view of Big Mountain in front of him, he was in the middle of a forest. A thriving, lush, honest-to-God forest. It couldn't be Jacobstown because, during this time of year, it would be covered in snow. The trees were a lush green and looked healthy. However, one thing managed to throw all of his thoughts of where he was out the window.

The air.

The air of the wasteland was irradiated. It was stale and dry. It didn't matter where you were on the planet. The quality of the air stayed the same. But here, in the forest, it was clear and crisp. The Courier could taste the freshness.

With a growing sense of dread, he checked his map. He was met with the message: **Warning! No Rob-Co satellites detected. Please wait until a proper connection is made or the satellites come back online**. He smacked the device with his free hand before reading the same message again. With a groan of frustration, he did a quick rundown of his inventory and status. Apparel was fine, he really only had a couple sets of armor anyway. His ammo supplies were depleted a bit, but nothing he couldn't work with. His supply of meds worried him. Only his stimpacks were gone. All of his other chems were accounted for. He had all of his favorites weapons, but one extremely important one. The Transportalponder was gone.

The Courier's eyes widened in shock. Quickly turning on the Pip-Boy's flashlight, he started scanning the ground for the teleportation device. After fifteen minutes of searching, he leaned against a tree. The one thing that could get him back was lost. With a cry of frustration, he slammed his gloved fist into the bark. It snapped with a sharp crack, toppled over, and slammed into the ground with an echoing boom.

All of a sudden, he heard a low growl behind him. Scooping up his helmet and slamming onto his head, he turned to face the noise. What faced him looked like a Yao Guai from hell. It was covered in a thick, bone armor. The creature had long, sharp claws that could probably shred through a ballistic vest like paper. On its face, it wore a white, bone mask that framed its red eyes. It began to circle him, and it let out a loud howl.

Recognizing the clear call for reinforcements, the Courier calmly drew A Light Shining in Darkness in his left hand. After that was done, he reached over with his right hand and twisted a few dials on his Pip-Boy. In a flash of blue light, a large gauntlet materialized onto his right hand. The superheated Saturnite fist, a favorite of his ever since his time at Big Mountain.

As soon as his weapons were equipped, more of the demonic Yao Guais appeared. The Courier felt his mouth stretch into a grin. It had been a while since he had a good challenge.

* * *

"What was that?"

Yang glanced at her partner, Blake, from where she was standing. "Hear what?"

"There was a large boom. It sounded like someone knocked over a tree." Blake pointed out to their left.

"Really?" Yang asked, her eyes widening. "Let's go check it out!"

Blake raised an eyebrow at this. "And why would we do that?"

"It could be Ruby!" And without waiting for Blake to reply, Yang sprinted off in the direction of the noise.

* * *

The first Yao Guai sprinted forward, baring its fangs at the Courier. He rolled and fired Joshua Graham's pistol into its neck. The .45 auto rounds tore through the armor like butter, and the first beast dropped to the ground dead.

Before he had a moment to rest, two more of the creatures rushed toward him. He met the first one head on, slamming the Saturnite fist into its torso. The beast erupted into flames and flew backward a good thirty feet. The second one landed a clean swipe into his shoulder, tearing the fabric of his duster and tore into his flesh. Leaping out of the way of a consecutive strike, the Courier stood up.

"This is my favorite coat," he said. His voice took on a hate-filled edge. "And you ripped it." He holstered a Light Shining in Darkness and flipped a dial on his Pip-Boy. The Saturnite fist disappeared in a flash of light and was replaced with a hunting shotgun.

The Courier sprinted towards the beast, fully intent on painting the trees with its innards. The Yao Guai look-alike just let out a howl and swung its claws forward. Sliding in between its legs, the Courier missed the claws by inches. Leaping up behind it, he turned and aimed the shotgun at its head. With a satisfying bang, Dinner Bell let loose a storm of pellets. The beast didn't get a chance to even turn around as the 12 gauge shell turned its skull into a fine red mist.

Before the Courier could land, however, a massive claw slammed into him, knocking him through a couple trees and causing him to lose his grip on Dinner Bell. With a grunt of effort, he staggered to his feet and looked down. A three foot long branch was stabbed straight through his abdomen. Gripping the branch tightly with both hands, he tore it from his stomach and tossed it to the side.

Coughing, he checked his status on his Pip-Boy. Three broken ribs and a pierced abdomen with no stimpacks to heal it up. Luckily, he could already feel his Phoenix Monocyte Breeder working its magic. Turning a few dials on the Pip-Boy, the Courier equipped a massive, rusty sledgehammer. Hefting Oh, Baby! onto his shoulder, he glared at the large Yao Guai.

"You just made a huge mistake."

* * *

"Damn…."

Yang was impressed. From their position in the bushes, they saw that this figure had just been knocked back twenty feet and impaled and shook it off like it was nothing. He then proceeded to materialize an extremely large hammer out of nowhere. Now he was just standing there, waiting for the Ursa Major to make its move.

Blake came to a similar conclusion. But she was more worried about the fact that his Aura hadn't absorbed any of the blows. Before she could analyze any more of him, both opponents suddenly dashed toward each other.

They met in an arm-jarring clash of bone and steel that even Yang could feel. In one sudden move, the mysterious stranger shoved the hammer forward, and with his right hand drew a long knife from his belt. He thrusted it forward and it buried deep into the Ursa's left eye. The beast cried out in pain and staggered backward. This was the only opening the figure needed, as he hefted the hammer onto his shoulder, like a baseball bat, and swung it with enough force to crush the skull of the Ursa into a red paste. Yang's eyes widened. It took an enormous amount of strength to overpower an Ursa Major.

With the fight over, Yang could finally get a good look at him (she assumed it was a man from the roar earlier). The stranger had a rather large frame. Yang guessed he was around six foot three in height. He wore a long, dark green duster with grey shoulder plates. She could see the grip of two handguns coming from shoulder holsters underneath the coat. A large, black-handled fire axe was slung across his back and, crossing over the top of it was a sniper rifle with desert camouflage. On his left arm, he wore some kind of thick device that glowed a bright blue. His legs were covered in dark grey military pants tucked into heavy combat boost. He had a large holster strung across his right hip, and it currently cradled a massive, engraved revolver. There was another handgun on his left hip that she couldn't make out. His chest was covered in body armor with bandoliers crisscrossing all over it, with anything from bullets to grenades to throwing knives to handguns. On his belt was a canteen with the number 13 written in bold and two knife sheaths. He wore what looked like a standard-issue military helmet at first, but the face was covered in a respirator. The most unnerving part of it, however, was the eyes. They were covered in thick, red lenses that seemed to pierce her very soul.

He let the hammer fall to the ground, and, with after fiddling with his wrist device for a second, it disappeared in a flash of blue light. He suddenly straightened in his spot, and in a blur of motion drew his revolver and pointed it directly at where they were hiding.

Blake's breath caught in her throat. "Yang? Maybe we should lea-"

Before she could finish that thought, Yang stood up abruptly and started walking toward the stranger. She grinned broadly and raised her arms in the "I surrender" position. The man's revolver stayed trained on her head. "That was amazing!"

Yang stopped, however, when the man thumbed back the hammer on his revolver. "Look, you can put down the gun. There aren't any more Grimm around. Me and my partner here aren't a threat either."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" His voice sounded grainy and robotic coming from the respirator.

Yang gave the man a questioning look. "Whadda ya mean by that? Why would we want to hurt you? Listen, how about we put the gun away and get to introductions?" She stuck out a hand. "Yang Xiao Long, at your service. And behind me is my new partner, Blake Belladonna."

The man stood there, unmoving. He suddenly spun the revolver in his hand, before slamming it home in its holster. Then, he grasped her hand in a firm grip and shook. "Six. Just Six"

Yang grinned as they shook hands. Six had a strong grip. "You gonna take off that helmet, so I can match a face to that name?"

"No." He absentmindedly scratched the back of his helmet. "And don't ask why."

Yang opened her mouth to reply, but Blake chose to interject. "I didn't see you at Beacon. Are you a student?" He shook his head. "Then where did you come from?"

Six glanced around the clearing. "It doesn't matter anymore."

Even through the helmet's filter, Yang could hear the pain in that voice. His shoulders slumped slightly, and he looked…..tired. Not physically, but mentally. Like he had seen too much suffering and was weary of the world. But, then the moment passed and he stood upright again. He turned and fixed his red lenses on Yang. "I dropped my shotgun in the fight. Have you seen it? It is very important to me."

"Is that it?" Blake pointed behind him. Six turned and walked to where she pointed. He bent over and grabbed something in both hands. When he stood back up and strode back to where they were, Yang got a good look at it. It was an old-fashioned, pump-action shotgun. The whole thing looked worn from use and the camouflage paint that covered it was chipped and scratched. Six reached into his bandolier, reloaded a shell, and pumped it. Then he fiddled with the device on his wrist, and, in a flash of light, it disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Yang asked, giving the device a curious look.

Six showed her his arm. On the device's screen was a picture of a cartoon man, and surrounding him were words like "inventory", "status", and "data."

"This is a Pip-Boy 3000, a rare piece of tech. It tracks my health, stores equipment, and even comes with a built in GPS and radio."

Blake moved next to Yang. "But how does it store your equipment?"

Pulling back the device, he started to mess with it again. "It converts the device into digital code and stores it. The weight stays the same, so I can only carry so much. And, before you ask, I can't carry living things or anything too large." There was a flash of blue light, and, in his hands, he held a repeater rifle. Like the shotgun, this had seen wear and tear. The stock of the gun was decorated, and feathers hung off the end. He flicked more switches, and the gun disappeared once more.

"That's so cool!" Yang said, her eyes wide. "But if you can carry a whole arsenal in there, why do you even have weapons on your person?"

Six reached his hand down to his left side and drew an engraved handgun. He emptied the magazine and slid another one into its place. "Using the Pip-Boy during battle is slow and has gotten me injured on multiple occasions. I prefer to keep more all-around useful weapons on my person, so I don't have to rely on it." He returned the handgun to his side and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, if you're done asking me questions, I'm going to ask you some of my own. Where am I?"

"You're in the Emerald Forest near Beacon Academy."

He nodded. "Alright. I heard you call those Yao Guais something else. What was it?"

Yang raised an eyebrow. ' _Yao Guais? He must be talking about the Ursas. I've never heard them called that before, though._ "They're Ursas. Have you never heard that name before?"

"Nope."

Blake cut her off again. "We should really be going."

"Where are you going?" Six asked.

"We've gotta finish our initiation so we can get into Beacon," Yang started. A grin suddenly split across her face. "You should come with us! I mean, if you've got nothing else to do."

Six pulled a roll of bandages out of his pocket and began wrapping the wound in his stomach. Why he didn't do this earlier, Yang wasn't sure. But she wasn't going to argue that with him.

"Sure," he said, tying off the cloth and putting it away. It was already red with blood from its brief time on his torso. "Let's go."

* * *

"Hey Weiss! Jump!"

Without waiting for the heiress to reply, Ruby leapt off the Nevermore. They had used it to gain an aerial vantage point to find the relics. She had spotted the small circle of stones.

As she approached closer and closer to the ground, she began to think of a landing strategy. Firing her scythle and riding the recoil would work, but she might need the ammo later. There was also the possibility of hooking one of the trees, but she could throw out her shoulder. She really should have been planning this before dropping down.

Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she glanced at the ground again. All of her ideas went out the window when she realised how close she was. There was nothing to do know but sit and wait for her fate.

A strong pair of arms caught her right before she hit the ground. Glancing over, Ruby started to thank her savior when she saw his eyes. They were bright red and looked just like a Grimm's. She shrieked and pushed herself onto the ground.

"Ruby?" A familiar voice asked. The red reaper turned towards the sound. Yang was standing there giving her a worried look.

"YANG!" she cried, clinging onto her sister. "You have to watch out! There's a Grimm around here!"

Yang snickered and jerked a thumb to her left. "You mean Six? Sure, he looks scary, but he's no monster."

Ruby turned her head back to the "Grimm." Taking in his appearance, she forgot all about her fright. She skipped over the man's armor (though it did look quite cool), and went straight for his weapons. The two most notable were slung across his back, crossing over each other. A tan stock peeked over his right shoulder, hinting at some sort of rifle. On his left, was the haft of what looked to be an axe. When her eyes moved downward, she nearly passed out in glee. The man had seven, SEVEN handgun holsters on his person. There was a large revolver on his right hip, and an engraved handgun at his left. The grips of two revolvers stuck out from his back. Two shoulder holsters had that many more handguns. Opposite his heart, was the final pistol. And that wasn't even counting the numerous knives and grenades strapped across it.

"Oh my gosh!" she said, her eyes glittering. "That's a lot of weapons!"

Six just let out a chuckle. "Yup, it sure is."

Gazing around, she looked at everyone else. There was the bouncing, orange-haired girl and her friend with the pink hair streak from that morning. Blake stood next to Yang with the ghost of a smile on her face.

A sudden crash could be heard coming from the treeline. Pyrrha had sprinted out with a Deathstalker hot on her tail. The scorpion was snapping madly, desperately trying to slice her in half.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked.

The air around Yang started to heat up. Ruby took a couple steps backwards to avoid getting burned. She was about to tell Six to do the same, but Yang snapped before she could.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! CAN EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!"

Ruby blinked and took another look at Six. The man hadn't even flinched when her sister lit herself on fire. In fact, he had shielded his red lenses and was looking up into the sky.

"Is that girl hanging onto a giant bird?" he asked.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?!" Weiss called from on top of the Nevermore.

The heiress was currently holding onto one of the bird's talons. As far up in the air as she was, she looked like an ant.

"I told you to jump…" Ruby said, speaking barely above a whisper.

Blake glanced up into the air, apparently disinterested. "She's gonna fall."

"She'll be fine."

"She's falling," The boy with the pink strip said.

Indeed she was. Keeping a firm grip on the slick claw couldn't have been easy. Now, she was plummeting to the ground below. Since she felt it was her responsibility that Weiss was falling, Ruby prepared to catch her. That was, until Six brushed passed her.

He strode right where she was going to fall and held out his arms. Weiss fell into his arms bridal style, and he gently set her down. Nobody noticed Jaune go flying overhead and land at Ruby's feet.

"Thank you," she said, dusting herself off.

Six just grunted in acknowledgment as Pyrrha landed next to him.

"Great," Yang said. "The gang's all here. Now we can all die together!"

Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose with a grin. This was her chance to finally prove what she could do. "Not if I can help it!"

She charged the Deathstalker with her superhuman speed. Yang shouted something at her, but Ruby paid it no heed. Firing her scythe to gain extra speed, she swung it in a wide, horizontal blow. The scorpion smacked her with the back of one of its pincers and sent her tumbling to the ground.

Shaking off her dizziness, she realized something. There was no way she could beat this thing by herself. She fired her scythe once, before putting it away and running back towards their group."Don't worry! Totally fine!"

When she looked ahead she could see Yang sprinting towards her. A sudden caw from above her gave her a brief warning to what was coming. Massive feathers began barraging the ground around her, until one pinned the back of her cape to the ground.

Pulling fruitlessly on the trapped cloth, she glanced back to Yang. Her sister's rescue attempt had been blocked by the last couple quills. "RUBY! GET OUT OF THERE!"

"I'm trying!" she called, tugging once again on her cape. The Nevermore's feathers had gone extremely deep, preventing removal without the proper leverage.

Her fall had allowed the Deathstalker time to catch up. It stopped right in front of her, clicking its pincers. The scorpion's tail pulled back and Ruby gulped. There was no way she, or anyone else, was fast enough to stop it.

Time seemed to slow down and the golden stinger descended. She could faintly make out Yang screaming her name in the distance. Ruby closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

The blow never came.

Once again, a pair of arms wrapped around her. She heard the flap of a coat in the wind and opened her eyes. Crouched in front of her, shielding her from stinger was Six. He had somehow crossed an impossible distance to protect her. Her eyes drifted down to his left shoulder and they widened.

 **One Piece: The Very, Very, Very Strongest**

The large stinger had pierced through his duster and armor. A large hole had replaced anything that was there and blood mixed with venom was leaking out of the wound. Taking another glance at his face, Ruby couldn't see any emotion through his mask. His breathing sounded labored through his respirator.

His right hand drifted down to his left arm, and he flipped a dial on the weird bracelet he was wearing. Blue light flashed and whirring filled the air. Six suddenly whirled around and swung his right fist. The Deathstalker screeched in pain and stumbled backwards.

With some room to navigate, Six let go of her and stood up. Ruby took another look at him. On his right arm, was a weapon that made her salivate at the mouth. It looked like the marriage between Yang's Ember Celica and a power saw. The large bulky gauntlet had a rotating serrated blade on the front.

Then, she looked at the Deathstalker.

The beast's tail had been nearly cut in two. The half with the actual stinger was currently being yanked out of Six's shoulder by the man himself. Apparently, the saw had made quick work of the Deathstalkers chitin, slicing through it in a single blow.

Six finished pulling out the stinger and jabbed a syringe into the wound. He visibly seemed to relax when he pushed down the plunger on it. Pulling the handgun across from his heart out, Six racked the slide before revving his saw.

"Alright, you sorry excuse for a Radscorpion," he said, his voice coming out in a low growl. "Pick on someone your own size."

* * *

Yang slowly stood up, staring at Six. The man had just taken the stinger of a Deathstalker for her sister. Nobody, and she literally meant nobody, had ever done anything like that before. It simply left her awestruck.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, she ran over to where Ruby was. Her sister was sitting there with her mouth hanging open, watching Six tackle the scorpion with no fear. Once she had pulled the feather out of her cloak, Ruby turned back to Yang.

"Wow…" she said, drawing out the word. "He's so cool!"

The Deathstalker snapped one its claws at him, but Six just tore through it with ease. Even the bullets from the handgun he was using were doing damage, judging by the way they punched through its armor like wet paper. Normal handguns couldn't even lay a scratch on its armor, so what he was using definitely couldn't be street legal.

An opening appeared after Six had sliced off the pincer, and he took it. With a thunderous cry, he drove his sawblade into the Deathstalker's head, sending chunks of flesh flying in every direction. When he backed up to check on his handiwork, not even a piece of the beast's skull remained. It was dead, but he fired a couple rounds into its neck just to be sure.

Six put away his weapons with another flash of blue light. Yang caught her sister's quizzical expression and bent down next to her. "His wristband is like a portable armory. He can store all sorts of weapons in it."

Ruby's eyes widened when she said this, and Yang felt sorry for when she was going to berate Six with questions. Granted, that would probably be a good time to ask her own. Like where he learned to fight like that and how he moved so fast. But, those could wait for another time.

The man in question suddenly reached down to his Pip-Boy and flipped another switch. A large, bulky sniper rifle materialized in his hand. It looked nowhere as sleek as Ruby's, but from the effectiveness of his arsenal, Yang didn't dare underestimate it. He cradled it in his arms and looked up into the sky.

"Where'd the giant-ass crow go?"

He got his answer when a loud caw filled the air. Yang gazed up and saw the Nevermore circling above them. Pulling Ruby up, she watched as her sister grabbed Six's wrist and began to pull him towards the group. "We have to go! My sniper rifle didn't do anything to it, so there's no wa-!"

BOOM!

In the short time Ruby had been talking, Six had readied, aimed, and fired his gun. Following his barrel, Yang looked at the Nevermore again.

Or rather, what was left of it.

Whatever rounds he had chambered in his rifle had completely obliterated the top half of the bird's skull. With no brain to help it fly, it spiraled toward the ground. Six nodded at his handiwork and put away his gun. He walked up to Yang and clapped her on the shoulder.

"Mission accomplished, right?"

* * *

 **Here's chapter one. I know it's somewhat short, but I like keeping them brief with lot's of action. I also felt like this was a nice natural break in the story.**

' **Till next time.**


	2. My Kind of Town

"What's that one called?"

Six pulled Li'l Devil out of its holster and showed it to Ruby. He had learned her name after introductions had gone around. Now, she hadn't stopped asking him questions about his guns. Currently, she was skipping alongside of him, her red cloak fluttering behind her.

"This," he said, ejecting the magazine and putting a new one in. The 12.7mm rounds had done a better job against the giant scorpions armor than he could have hoped for. The only problem was the small supply he had. "Is Li'l Devil. She fires 12.7mm rounds that, as you saw earlier, have no trouble punching through armor."

"Cool!" Ruby said with her eyes sparkling. "What was the sniper rifle you used earlier?"

A grin split over his face when she mentioned his anti-material rifle. Over the course of his wasteland travels, the not-really-a-sniper-rifle-and-more-like-a-rail-gun had found a soft spot in his heart. "The anti-material rifle? I wouldn't call it a sniper rifle. The .50 MG rounds it fires are capable of smashing through just about anything."

"What's her name?"

"What?" Six asked, turning to the girl.

"You know," Ruby said, unfolding her own weapon. The massive red and black blade was quite impressive, and he had seen a lot of impressive weapons. "My scythe's name is Crescent Rose. Every one of your weapons has to have one! You can't just have some with a name and some without!"

"Uhh…" Six had never really named any of his own weapons. His named ones had been christened before he had gotten them, and he had kept those names. "I haven't named it."

Ruby's jaw dropped and Yang shook her head sadly. "Now you've done it."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T NAMED IT?!" she yelled, shaking him by the shoulders. He just watched with one eyebrow raised. "YOU HAVE TO NAME IT! IT'S LIKE A PART OF YOU!"

Yang strode up to Six's left side and patted him on the shoulder. "You better think of something, otherwise she's not going to shut up."

Six rubbed his chin in thought. Thinking of a good name on the fly was difficult, especially seeing as Ruby was one who wouldn't let him change it later on. He grinned as the answer came to him.

"Special Delivery."

His smile grew wider at Yang's own amused expression and Ruby's disappointed one. The name fit so well, he didn't know why he didn't think of it earlier.

"That's not cool though!"

Six crossed his arms and kept walking. "You never said anything about it having to be. I just think it's funny."

A sudden rustling from behind made his right hand drift down to the Ranger Sequoia's grip. His glanced over his shoulder, red lenses scanning the underbrush. The rest of the group was trailing behind, talking quietly amongst themselves. That was the third time he had heard something like that in the ten minutes they had been walking. Something was definitely following them, but it hadn't shown itself yet.

"Is something wrong?" Yang asked.

"No," he said, facing forwards. A sudden feeling in his gut made him stiffen. Tackling Yang and Ruby to the ground, he shouted to the rest of their group. "DOWN!"

A huge wolf had leapt out of the trees and just missed where they were standing. Six sent a silent thank you to his walker instincts as he stood up and pulled the Ranger Sequoia out of its holster. His senses had become highly refined over his adventures.

One eye scanned the treeline while the other one stayed on the monster dog. Usually, animals weren't dumb enough to attack when they were outnumbered. Sure enough, a large horde of smaller wolves came pouring out of the treeline. Swearing to himself, he gripped Lucky in his left.

"Where did they come from?!" Ruby asked, climbing to her feet with her scythe at the ready. "They weren't here a minute ago!"

"That's not important right now," he said, killing one of the creatures with a clean headshot. It dropped backward but was quickly replaced by three of its comrades. "How close are we?"

Blake sliced another one across the neck. "Not very far, but with this many of them, we'll get slaughtered before we get close."

Six rolled away from a swipe and fired three shots from Lucky into the beast's gut. It crumpled over, moaning in pain. He finished it off with a quick stomp to the head. The other two tried to get close, but fell before the Sequoia's .45-70 Gov't rounds. In the brief lapse, Six checked the battlefield.

They were faring poorly. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were back to back, fighting an ever tightening circle of monsters. Yang, Ruby, and Weiss had tried to make their way over to them, but had been cut off. Blake stood back to back with him, cutting apart anything in her way. His attention was drawn to the large wolf that started the assault, however. It had sat back and was just watching them fight.

Six had an idea.

"Blake," he said, getting the black-haired girl's attention. "I have an idea, a terrible one, but an idea nonetheless. Once I go, you've gotta get everyone out of here, no questions asked. Understood?"

She was about to argue, but Six silenced it with a glare. After a couple seconds of straight killing, she nodded. "You're going to get yourself killed by the way."

"Ehh, I've faced worse odds," he said. Holstering his guns, Six summoned two things. The first was a weathered flare gun, a weapon he had picked up from the Divide. The second was a green bottle labeled "Battle Brew." Popping the top off, he lifted his helmet up and downed the whole thing. The potent beverage burned on the way down his esophagus, but he stomached it. His senses dulled to a buzz, and he felt strength course through his body.

Taking aim, he fired a flare. The projectile spiraled through the air, leaving a trail of flames. It collided with the largest wolf, engulfing its entire body in red fire. The beast screeched and fell backward. After a couple seconds, it gave a loud howl before calling its brethren to go charging towards him. Six turned a knob on the Pip-Boy, putting away the flare gun and bottle and materializing a whole new weapon.

At first glance, it appeared to be a minigun. However, the green tubing tipped off the gun's real nature. The Sprtel-Wood 9700 was a gatling laser, a weapon capable of firing concentrated beams of energy at a ludicrously fast speed. It was great for crowds of unarmored enemies, such as the horde he was facing now.

Six squeezed the trigger, sending green lasers flying into the horde. The ones that weren't disintegrated lost limbs to the heated beams. Wave after wave of them fell, the bodies piling high around him.

A sudden noise from behind caused him to turn around. A couple of the beasts had tried to sneak up on him, but Sprtel put an end to that. The smell of burning flesh filled the air and Six could see ash floating down like snow.

The gun clicked empty and he swore to himself. He hadn't expected it to run out that fast. The energy weapon had cleared a good number of the monsters, but there were still some left. Dematerializing it, he reached up to pull Knock-Knock off his back. One of wolves beat him to the punch, swiping its claws across his left side. They cut through the duster with more ease than he would like to admit.

He stumbled backward for a second, before planting his right foot and sending a hook right into the wolf's jaw. Even without gauntlets, the Courier still threw one hell of a punch. He had once sent a Powder Ganger flying through the wall of the Prospector Saloon for attempted dine and dash. After a rather long bar fight, he had forced the convicts to apologize and pay for any damages.

Back to the fight at hand, his fist had snapped the beast's neck backward with a vicious crack. Its corpse tumbled to the ground in a restless heap, only to be replaced by more of the monsters. He was getting nowhere. Anytime he killed one of them, more would just take its place.

Frankly, it was pissing him off.

"Alright," he growled, summoning the Q-35 Matter Modulator. He flicked a switch on the side, heating up the plasma inside with a hum. "I'm done playing around."

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE NOT GOING BACK FOR HIM?"

Yang was absolutely furious, anybody looking at her could tell. Her hair was akin to a small wildfire and her normally lilac eyes were red. Most of the other people in their group had similar expressions, though none near as intense as her own.

Ozpin just took a sip from his mug. "That is precisely what I mean. From what you have told me and I have seen, he is quite capable of handling himself."

"What I think Yang is trying to say," Blake spoke up, cutting Yang's own rebuttal off. "Is that he has sustained multiple injuries prior to those fights. These could limit his ability to fight and possibly get him killed."

With a nod, she confirmed her partner's statement. She had only known Six for a short while, but he had gotten on her good side. It was mostly from him taking a Deathstalker stinger for Ruby, but the fact that he used his fists and seemed to have a decent sense of humor helped.

"We understand," Mrs. Goodwitch said, pushing her glasses up her nose and tapping on her pad. "But the drones have gone dark. We have no more vis-"

A noise from behind them got them all to turn around. Someone had tossed what looked like a sci-fi rifle up onto the cliff. A gloved hand quickly followed it. With a grunt, Six pulled himself up. Yang's eyes widened at his damaged appearance.

One of the lenses in his helmet was cracked, leaving only one eye aglow. His duster was torn and covered in dark red stains. Six's chest was missing multiple knives and grenades. His pants didn't fare much better than his coat, cut up by Beowulf claws, no doubt.

Six stood up slowly, favoring his left leg. Apparently seeing them for the first time, he gave them a casual wave. "Howdy."

The fire around Yang slowly smoldered out as she watched him sit down and dress his wounds. He had summoned some bandages and alcohol to stem the flow of blood from his injuries. Glancing at the others, she noticed their own dumbfounded expressions. Jaune was the first to speak up.

"What happened to the Grimm?"

"What do you think?" he said, not looking up. "I killed 'em. They wouldn't exactly let me leave with all my limbs intact now, would they?"

"But there was so many of them!"

Six just snorted, pushed up his helmet, and took a swig from his bottle. In the brief time that it was up, Yang saw rough stubble covering a sharp jawline. "If you'll believe it, that wasn't even the worst time I've ever been outnumbered. Imagine trying to fight off a Deathclaw with a BB gun. Now _that_ was tough."

"What's a Deathclaw?" Ruby asked.

"Well," he said, moving to his torso. He had managed to finish his arms. "I expect you don't have them here, but it's like a dragon and your worst nightmare had a baby, then spawned the Anti-Christ. Don't wish to ever find one."

Six stood up, cracking his back. He had put away the medical supplies and space gun, apparently satisfied with his work. Turning to Yang, he held out a hand. "Now that that's taken care of, point me in the direction of the nearest town and I'll be on my way. Normally, I would navigate by myself, but my map is broken."

"What?" she asked, blinking. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'm not needed, so I'll get out of your hair. Which way do I go?"

"Now wait just a minute."

Ozpin had finally chosen to speak up, after nearly five minutes of silence. Glynda stood next to him with an unhappy expression on her face. With a heavy sigh, Six turned to him expectantly. "What?"

"Where are you going?" he asked, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Nowhere in particular," Six said. "I'm a wanderer at heart. What's it to you?"

Yang watched as the grin on the headmaster's face grew. She was familiar with that smile, considering she used it all the time. It was the expression of someone planning something.

"How would you like a job?"

"That depends, does it come with living quarters and can I leave whenever I want?" he asked. "'Cause if it does, I'm in. I need a decent place to sleep for a few nights."

"It does," Ozpin said. "And you can. However, before I formally offer you the job, take off your helmet. I would like to know with whom I may be working with."

Six shook his head vigorously. "Nope, ain't gonna happen."

"Now that is absolutely ridiculous," Mrs. Goodwitch said, tapping on her pad. "And why won't you?"

"You ask that like you think I'm going to answer that."

Ozpin butt in before Glynda got out her riding crop. "Because the job isn't open unless I know the person who I'm working with. That includes your real name too."

Grumbling under his breath, Six grabbed the bottom rim of his helmet and pulled it off. He tucked it under one arm and held up a hand. His voice was a smooth tenor and nice on the ears without the filter distorting it. "I'll do the helmet, but the names a no-go."

Yang's breath caught in her throat when she saw his face. He was _way_ younger than she expected. She was expecting a grizzled veteran in his thirties or forties, but was way happier with this. Six appeared to be around her age, not even the stubble on his face could hide that.

Speaking of his face, Yang was impressed. A mop of unkempt light brown hair covered his head. His eyes were a turbulent hazel, but portrayed no emotion. As she saw from before, he had a sharp jawline covered in stubble. She was about to do a catcall until she saw his scars. There were many lining his face, but four were the most prominent. One was a long jagged cut that ran behind his right eye down to his mouth. His left cheek had a horizontal scar that went parallel below his eye. Two circular marks on his forehead looked like bullet wounds. He gave a weak smile, showing off his white teeth.

"Well," Ozpin said. Glancing at him, Yang could see the surprise on his face. "This complicates things. Why don't we talk about this back at my office?"

Six gave another sigh and sadly shook his head. "And that, is why I didn't want to take off the helmet."

* * *

"Please, sit."

Ozpin watched as Six sat down across from him. He looked anything but relaxed. The headmaster couldn't blame him though. His office was a bit eccentric and the fact that Glynda had taken his weapons couldn't relax him. The boy's fingers tapped a steady rhythm on the desk and he kept both his eyes fixed on Ozpin.

He had to take care of the team assigning ceremony before they could talk. Ozpin had left Glynda in charge of the young man, a decision she clearly did not agree with. She stood near the elevator, keeping her riding crop at the ready.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Ozpin asked, gesturing to the coffee machine in the corner of his room.

"No, and let's cut the formalities," Six said, giving it a brief glance before turning back to him. "What do you want?"

Glynda visibly frowned at Six's disrespect. Ozpin let a small grin spread across his face, but quickly hid it behind his mug to avoid invoking his assistant's wrath. "Ahh, straight to the point. I was going to offer you a job, but after figuring out your age, I think a position as a student might be better for you."

A small chuckle left the boy's lips, before he busted out into full-blown laughter. After a couple minutes, his mirth faded and he looked at the headmaster again. At seeing his serious expression, his grin disappeared. "You're not serious, are you?"

"I'm completely serious."

"Hold on," he muttered, rummaging around in his coat. Pulling out a box of cigarettes and an engraved lighter, he lit one and took a drag. "Nope, that didn't help."

 _Crack!_

Six didn't even flinch when Glynda's riding crop smacked the desk right next to his hand. "You can't be older than seventeen. Legal smoking age is eighteen, so hand it over."

"If you have seen some of the things I have, you'd not only be smoking, but also trying to gouge your own eyes out," he said. "Now back to the important topic. Why in the hell should I go to a goddamned school?"

Glynda raised her crop again, but Ozpin waved her off. The kid's fearlessness impressed him. Not many people he had met before were able to withstand his assistant's death glare. Even Ironwood, general of the Atlas military, fell underneath her gaze.

"The reason is," he began, setting his mug down. "Is that I've met many people in my long career as headmaster, but none have surprised me as much as you. You are enormously skilled, have tech never seen before, and can take mortal wounds like bug bites. Who are you?"

The boy took another puff and gazed out the window. "We're not on planet Earth, are we?"

"Earth?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "No, we are on Remnant."

"Shit," Six said, turning back to the headmaster. Ozpin could see the boy visibly deflate. "Well, sit back 'cause this is going to take a while."

* * *

"And that's about it," Six finished, tossing his spent cigarette in the trash. He had just spent the last half hour giving the two a brief synopsis of his wasteland travels. Everything from Goodsprings to Hoover Dam. He had left out his journies to Big Mt, the Sierra Madre, and the Divide. Those were some of his more far-fetched and personal adventures, so he kept them to himself.

"So, to make a long story short," the headmaster, Ozpin, said. "You got shot in the head delivering a package, lost your memories, then proceeded to single-handedly free the Mojave?"

"Personally, I would give less credit to myself, but that is it." he said. "Now what?"

"My invitation still stands."

Six let out a heavy sigh and massaged his temples. "Why do you insist on this? I can give you three good reasons why I shouldn't do this. One, I've got all the combat training I need. Two, wanderlust has prevented me from staying places before. And three, probably the biggest, I'm a liar, cheater, thief, murderer, and overall not a good person."

"While that all may be true," Ozpin said with a nod. "I see within you an overwhelming desire to do good. You proved it when you saved Ms. Rose from the Deathstalker, even your story shows it, from saving the Mojave to helping anyone you met. You can't deny that. Your claim about combat training is correct, but I believe Beacon would be the best place for you to learn about this world. Like it or not, you will be with us for a while."

Reaching into his coat, Six grabbed a canister of Jet. The drug always helped calm him down and clear his mind. He took a quick puff and considered his options. Sure, he may have a small addiction to the stuff, but it had never harmed him before. There was no denying that being a student at Beacon was the best option. And even if it didn't work out, he could always leave. Only one problem arose, and that was his past experiences with schools. Most of the ones he had been to were filled with wasteland vermin. The worst of these being the high school of Big Mt. For what definitely wouldn't be the last time, Six cursed Nightstalkers and cyber police dogs.

"Fine," he said. Getting over his paranoia would be hard, but he was used to accomplishing impossible tasks. "My only stipulation is that nobody knows who I really am. What do I need to do?"

Ozpin's assistant, Glynda, spoke up this time. "First, I will need your name. Though Ozpin seems to be fine with your title, the rest of the school will think it odd. Second, you will be assigned to a team by tomorrow. This will be decided based on how you fulfill a task the headmaster and I will come up with."

"Wait, wait, wait," Six said, stuffing the spent canister into his coat. "You're saying I have to be with other people? Why can't I be by myself?"

"It would make you stick out. Putting you on a team with others will remedy that. The trial is necessary to make you look like a late arrival, instead of appearing out of literally nowhere. Now, can I have your name?"

Letting out another sigh, Six picked the Elite Riot Gear helmet off the ground and stood up. "Scott Lawrence."

"Really?" the headmaster said. "I thought you had forgotten everything?"

"I have," Scott said. "It's just the doc who patched me up picked it for me when I couldn't remember my own."

Turning to face the window, Ozpin took another sip from his mug. "Now that that is taken care of, I will have Glynda take you to your temporary dorm. And yes, she will give you your weapons back."

Scott placed his helmet back on and stepped in the elevator. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **Aight, Chapter 2 is complete. I apologize for the lack of progression in this one, I just needed to set some things up for the later chapters. Next time, Six goes through his task and is assigned a team.**

 **I had a hard time deciding Six's actual name. Originally, I wanted him to keep the title the entire story. However, to give the character some more depth, I gave him an actual name. Scott, in Scottish, means the wanderer. Pretty much a perfect fit. Lawrence is a reference to Lawrence of Arabia, the famous Brit who fought in the deserts during WWI. It also helps that it sounds nice.**

 **Finally, I have a question for you guys. Pairing or no pairing? I'll leave it up to you guys.**

' **Till next time.**


	3. Bleed Me Dry

With a grunt, Scott peeled off the chest piece for the Elite Riot Gear. Setting it on the counter, he stepped into the shower. Months worth of blood and dirt had glued the armor to his skin. Personally, he had no problem with that. The armor was his favorite for its ability to stop low calibre arms and overall badassery, so that just showed his appreciation for it.

Turning on the faucet, he flinched when the water hit him. The pressure was way higher than what he would get in the Lucky 38. Actually, scratch that, _everything_ was of way higher quality than the Lucky 38. His mattress had felt like he was laying on a cloud. The air conditioning had managed to last through a whole night. The food they had brought him earlier had been delicious, probably the best thing he had ever tasted. These were probably the best living conditions he had ever found.

And he hated it.

His paranoia was in constant overdrive. He hadn't been able to sleep last night, despite how inviting his bed was. Not that that was a bad thing, his sleep was plagued by horrifying nightmares. The only problem was the lack of sleep was starting to get to him, only causing his paranoia to increase. Scott had kept That Gun underneath his pillow and always within reach. Every creak tightened his hold on the pistol grip. He had even placed plasma mines at the door, in case anyone tried to get the jump on him. His place was out, sleeping beneath the stars, not living like a king.

Scott shook off his musings and began to clean himself up. Sadly, that proved more difficult than he would readily admit. He rarely took a shower, seeing no point in getting clean only to get dirty again. However, Ozpin's assistant had made it quite clear to clean up. Just like his armor, dirt and blood were caked to his skin, making it real damn hard to look presentable. He would have an easier time grabbing Figaro and chipping it all off. Resisting the urge to, he began to wash up. In the end, all it required was time, patience, and a lot of soap.

Once he was done, the Courier stepped out of the shower stall and grabbed a towel. The sheer softness of it shocked him, just like everything else here. His eyes roved across the clean, white bathroom before landing back on the Elite Riot Gear. He groaned once he realized he couldn't wear it.

The damage done to it was extensive, but nothing he couldn't repair. He needed a different set for now. Flipping through his Pip-Boy, (Yes, he kept it on in the shower) he grinned at what he found. With a simple turn, he materialized it.

The Courier's Duster was a gift from an old friend. Scott sent a silent prayer Ulysses's way. Hopefully, the man hadn't recessed back into his old habits of nuking nations. He smiled softly as he ran his hand over the ace and 21 on the back. Setting it down, he got back to the task at hand.

After reapplying his bandages, he pulled on a dusty pair of jeans and a flannel. If he was going to be a student, there was no need to scare his classmates away. Scott rolled up the sleeves so he had easy access to his Pip-Boy. Slipping into the calf-high boots, he wrapped his fists in brawler's hand wraps. His only pair of gloves was with the Riot Gear. The duster came next, and, to complete the ensemble, he put a faded cowboy hat on his head. Out of his handguns, he decided to only keep A Light Shining in Darkness and the Ranger Sequoia on his person. He stored the other's in his wrist apparatus. As a finishing touch, he tied a blue bandana around his mouth. Glancing in the mirror, he nodded to himself. The look would do for now.

Scott walked back over to the Elite Riot Gear and rummaged around inside. He kept most of his personal items in it and wasn't comfortable with leaving them behind. Those included Benny's lighter, his cigarettes, Joshua Graham's bible, the Platinum Chip, all of his Jet, and, most important of all, his tape of songs. Once he had those, he stuffed them into the duster he had on.

Stepping into his dorm, he checked his Pip-Boy for the time. It read 4:47, meaning that he had a couple hours to waste before Glynda would take him to his trial. Ozpin hadn't dropped any hints about it, so Scott was flying blind. It wasn't like that was a first, though. Almost all of his accomplishments had been done by winging it.

There was time to kill and Scott was feeling restless, so he decided to do one of the things that calmed him down. Regular maintenance on his gear. Pulling out his weapons, he carefully cleaned each and every one, waiting for the morning to come.

* * *

 **3 Hours Later**

* * *

Weiss fumed silently as they sprinted down the hallway to their next class. Thanks to their leader, they were going to be late. Even though she had woken them up early, they still managed to fall behind with things as ridiculous as decorating.

She stopped abruptly when she saw Ruby standing still ahead of them. Being the fastest, the scythe wielder had made her way to the classroom door, but hadn't gone in. The rest of their team slowly walked up behind her.

"What's up, sis?" Yang asked, slinging an arm over her shoulder.

Ruby looked at them with a grin. "There's no class in the morning! Look!"

Stuffing a paper into Weiss's hand, the heiress watched as she skipped down the hallway. That just made her anger flare up again. Here was her leader, not even acting her age. She had no idea why Ozpin would choose her bumbling dolt of a partner over herself. Weiss had not doubt she was the most qualified.

That was a complaint for another time, however. Smoothing out the paper Ruby had handed her, she read it out loud.

"All first years are to report to the auditorium. A student has been accepted late and will be going through a task set up by the headmaster. At the end of the trial, one of your teams will receive him as a teammate. Sincerely, Goodwitch."

"Ooh," Yang said, peering over Weiss's shoulder. "Do you think it might be Six?"

Weiss scoffed at the mention of the boy. She had been regretfully surprised by him yesterday, not only because he saved her, but he also killed all the larger Grimm. "Please, I doubt the headmaster will allow a vagabond like him into the school. I wouldn't be surprised if he was sent back to wherever he came from."

"He saved you from falling yesterday, how can you say that?!"

She just scoffed again. Sure, the ruffian may have saved her life, but that didn't change the fact that his appearance was abhorrent. He was nothing more than a grungy soldier. "That doesn't matter."

Yang opened her mouth to reply, but Blake cut her off. "Your argument can wait. We've got to get to the auditorium."

They turned and made their way to the large room. Since none of them had Ruby's speed, it took them a little over five minutes to make the journey. When they made it there, the room was already quite packed. Students were milling around, waiting for the event to start. Scanning the room, Weiss saw Ruby waving to them fervently. She had found a spot and saved the seats. They made their way over and sat down.

Ruby was practically bouncing in her chair. "I wonder what kind of weapons they have! Oooh, I'm just so excited!"

"Calm down," Yang said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're about to achieve liftoff."

"I know! Isn't it great?"

Weiss let out a huff. Her mood was only going to get worse the more Ruby opened her mouth. Before she could dwell on that, however, Ozpin stepped onto the stage. Silence quickly overtook the auditorium.

"Good morning," he said. "I hope you all settled in well. Yesterday, we had a late arrival come to us. Without time to put him through a proper initiation, I designed a challenge for him to partake in. The catch is, you can take him for your team if you want. Whichever team gets him, however, will face harder challenges and be graded stricter."

He pulled out a remote and pushed a button on it. A screen behind the stage lit up, showing the inside of a Bullhead. It was relatively empty, save for a familiar looking man in a long coat. He was standing in near one of the sliding doors, holding onto one of the ceiling handles. In the hand not holding onto the ship, was a camouflaged assault rifle. It was tinted dark green and had a small scope on top. Across the back part of his waist, was a black smg with a silencer. Covering up an insignia of a 21 and a spade, was a repeating rifle with feather ornaments and a worn machete. His face was hidden behind his combination of cowboy hat and bandana.

"Our newest arrival, Scott Lawrence, has been tasked with killing a Lockjaw and bringing back one of its teeth as testimony. He lived in a small frontier town outside of the four kingdoms, and, because of this, has tech and weapons that you will find unusual. I hope you give him your undivided attention."

Weiss's jaw dropped as she heard Yang and Ruby let out a cheer next to her.

It was Six.

* * *

' _Am I forgetting something?'_

Another bout of turbulence hit the Bullhead (NOT a Vertibird, he reminded himself) and he felt his stomach churn. Momentarily losing his train of thought, he gripped the ship a little tighter. Scott was never a fan of flying, he preferred keeping his own two feet on the ground. It didn't help that his brain kept reminding him that he was basically sitting in a giant, metal coffin. Ever since the Big Empty, his mind had gotten real cheeky with him.

Scott slung the All-American onto his back and reached into one of his duster's pockets. He pulled out a canister of Jet and took a puff underneath his bandana. The addictive vapors managed to calm some of his nerves. He wasn't worried about the trial ahead, he'd done shit like this a hundred times before. No, it came from their place in the sky.

He gave a quick glance to the pilot in the cockpit. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm supposed to kill some sort of monster gator, get one of its teeth, and make it back alive, right?"

"That's what it sounded like," the man said. He looked only a few years older than him. "And I don't envy you. When you're done, the headmaster said to shoot up one of your flares and I'll come pick you up" He glanced out the window. "We're here. Get ready to jump."

The door rumbled open and Scott looked down. A large marsh stretched out not thirty feet below him. Apparently, the forest he had teleported into had some sort of swamp at the end of it. Scott shot the pilot a lazy salute. "Well, wish me luck."

Without waiting for a response, he jumped. The wind whipped at his clothing as he fiddled with his Pip-Boy. In a flash of blue, the Fist of the North Rawr encased his right hand. He stabbed the scaled claw into one of the small trees that dotted the wetlands. It cut through the bark easily and slowed his descent. The only reason his arm wasn't torn out of its socket was thanks to the enhancements to his biology. Scott dropped to the ground with a splash, sinking up to his knees in the shallow water.

Tearing the Deathclaw gauntlet out of the tree, he dematerialized it and shrugged the All-American off his back. If he could use one word to describe the gun, it would be consistent. The assault rifle made up for its lackluster damage in range, accuracy, and ammo availability. He wanted to see how these "Grimm," (Ozpin had told him what they were called) would fare against some of his other weapons. Checking the magazine, he made sure he had his rounds in. He had forgotten to reload in the past after using some weapons, and it had come back to nearly cost his life.

Gazing around at the swamp around him, he scanned the vivid green for any signs of life. All that there was to see was overgrown trees and murky water. There were no signs of any gators. A sudden revelation came to him and he smacked his forehead with his free hand.

"Fuck! I didn't ask him what a gator was!"

* * *

Yang struggled to keep her laughter in check. That failed when she glanced around. Many of the faces of other students were nonplussed, clearly not expecting the rough language from Scott. Personally, Yang enjoyed it. It was a nice break from the usually stiff commentary other Huntsman around her age had.

She turned to see the expression on Weiss's face, and was not disappointed. The heiress was staring at the man on the screen with a mixture of disgust and confusion. "How does he not know what a Lockjaw is?"

"Ozpin did say he was from the frontier," Blake said. "They probably don't have them out there."

"He still should know every type of Grimm! It's like step one of becoming a Huntsman!"

Yang just sighed. "You know, it makes me real sad that you actually think most Huntsman know every Grimm by heart."

"Shhh!" Ruby said, putting a hand over Weiss's mouth. Her eyes didn't move from the screen. "I want to see what his weapons can do!"

Rolling her eyes, Yang turned her attention back to the screen. Nothing had happened yet, he was just walking along. Actually, Scott had done something. He had reached deep into the pockets of his duster and pulled out a weathered, orange tape. After slapping it into his Pip-Boy, he began turning with the dials on it. A chorus of trumpets erupted from the device as a song began to play.

" _Yippie-yay, there'll be no weddin' bells for today."_

Yang's perpetual grin faded in confusion. Then, it came back, twice as big.

He had begun to sing.

" _I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle."_

His voice was beautiful, hitting each note perfectly. She had heard it before and knew it sounded nice. But, she had no idea about how he sang. Yang had never heard anything as great as it, and she was a constant listener of the radio.

" _As I go ridin' merrily along."_

Scott somehow kept perfect rhythm with the song as he moved. His fingers drummed a steady beat on his gun's magazine. Each step he took was timed perfectly to the melody. What she found weird though, was that he still scanned his surroundings. His eyes didn't seem to hold the same lighthearted tone his body had.

" _And they sing, "Oh, ain't you glad you're single.""_

She glanced around the room. Everyone was entranced by his voice (especially the girls) and had their eyes glued to the screen. Yang let a grin spread across her face. They were pretty much just handing her ammunition to use against him. In her long career of making people uncomfortable, she knew that the quickest way was talking about love.

" _And that song ain't so very far from wrong."_

Yang looked at her own team. Ruby was swaying along to the words. Blake's bow twitched as she watched him wander along. Weiss was the most interesting. Unlike everyone else, she had her eyes closed. She mouthed each word to it silently with a small smile on her face. Yang's grin grew wider still.

"So," she said, elbowing the heiress. "You seem to be enjoying Scott's little show the most."

Weiss's eyes snapped open and she glared at the blonde. "I sing a lot on a regular basis. It just surprised me that one of the song's I knew was playing."

" _Oh, Lillie Be-."_

His next verse was cut off by a sudden splashing of water. Flicking her attention back to the screen, Yang's eyes widened.

That was a really big alligator.

* * *

"So, are you what they call a Lockjaw?"

Scott had done the tactic of asking the inarticulate creature a question they can't possibly answer many times. It was a classic, right behind pretending to be "in the wrong place at the wrong time." He couldn't remember how many gang members he had confused with that one.

At first glance, it looked like someone had flattened out a Deathclaw. What he assumed to be the Lockjaw was about twenty feet long, so in layman's terms "really fucking long." Like the other Grimm he had faced earlier, this one was covered in a thick bone plating. It had one set of long, sharp incisors that could probably slice him in half without too much trouble. The beast was half submerged in the water, its motley green armor somewhat camouflaging it underneath the surface. The beast's red eyes stood out completely, however.

The Courier slowly aimed the All-American between its eyes, careful not to provoke it. That was the last thing he wanted to do, considering it probably excelled in the water. He carefully swapped his magazine for armor piercing rounds. They were the only thing type that was capable of getting through armor that thick.

More splashes assaulted his ears. He looked for the source of the noise and gave an annoyed sigh. Many smaller versions of the creature had surrounded him on all sides. They were eager to take a bite out of him, gnashing their teeth in anticipation.

"Come on!" he said, turning his weapon on one of the smaller creatures. "You interrupted my favorite part of the song!"

He squeezed the trigger and all hell broke loose.

 **Pegboard Nerds: Swamp Thing**

The AP 5.56mm rounds tore through the bone easily and the first monster dropped underneath the water dead. The rest of them charged him all at once. He managed to take out four more before the gun clicked empty.

One of the beasts slammed into his back, knocking the rifle out of his hands and into the water. Swearing, he pulled Liberator off his back and stabbed it through the gator's skull. The blade pierced deep, sending black smoke flying in all directions. Scott yanked it out and used the flat part of the blade to deflect another one of the monster's lunges. The gator went flying past him, giving him a brief moment of respite.

In the small lapse, he unclipped Sleepytime from his belt and checked his surroundings. There were about seven of the smaller gators left, wary now that he had killed six of their kin. The larger one sat back, waiting to see how its underlings would fare. Scott rested Liberator on his shoulder and aimed the silenced submachine gun at them.

"Who's first?"

* * *

Ruby watched in silent awe as Scott efficiently killed each and every Lockjaw. Though his weapons didn't look as fancy as her own, or any other Huntsman's for that matter, they did their job. His assault rifle had easily dispatched the smaller ones, making their armor look as effective as tissue paper. The machete he had pulled out had nearly the same effect. It sliced through one skull like it wasn't even there.

She was still disappointed, however. From what Yang had told her, his arsenal was full of tons of powerful weapons, like a flaming metal fist and a giant hammer. Right now, all he had was the machete, a smg, and the repeating rifle on his back. Strapped to each waist were the pistols, knives, and canteen he had on earlier.

Scott suddenly leveled his gun at one of the gators and opened fire. A storm of bullets erupted from the barrel and tore through the reptile. The rest of them quickly flung themselves towards him.

He dove to the side, continuing his spray of lead. Scott managed to take two more down before the gun ran dry. Clipping it back onto his belt, he swung his machete at a pursuing Lockjaw. The two-handed swing bisected it and sent both halves tumbling to the ground. Another one took its place before he could get his blade back up, and bit into his shoulder.

The force of the blow knocked him down underneath the water and Ruby let out a gasp. It was a well known fact that Lockjaws were nearly unstoppable underneath the water. She glanced over at her teammates only to find similar expressions to her own.

The beast was thrashing on top of where he went under, no doubt trying to tear him apart. Blood suddenly sprayed up into the air and she felt Yang grip her arm tightly. Looking at her sister, she saw that her carefree smile was gone. A look of horror had taken its place. Ruby turned away from the screen, unable to watch. They hadn't known him for that long, but any death was tear-inducing.

"Yang…" she said, trying not to burst out crying. "He's not d-dead, is he?"

Her sister didn't answer her, she just kept the her eyes glued to the screen.

A splash in the water shot her own attention back to the broadcast. The Lockjaw was flailing about in what looked to be panic. Suddenly, Scott's machete burst through its body and it went still. The man himself erupted out of the water, fury blazing in his eyes. His hat was no longer on his head, floating in the water beside him. Her eyes widened when she saw the wound on his neck.

He had pulled the bandana down to his neck in an effort to staunch the flow of blood from the bite. The cloth was no longer blue, instead stained a disgusting purple by the crimson liquid. Without it covering his face, she could see his teeth grit in pain. She had no idea how he was still alive since the gator had torn out a chunk of his throat.

Scott tore his machete free of the Lockjaw's corpse and threw it. The blade flew like an arrow and imbedded itself in another beast's eye. Black smoke sprayed out as the metal destroyed its brain. Before she realized it, he had grabbed the repeater on his back.

A sudden bang turned the final one's skull into mist. He cocked the lever, chambering another round. Underneath his soaking wet hair, Scott's eyes scanned for the pack leader. It had somehow managed to disappear in the confusion.

A savage roar was the only warning he was given before the Primal Lockjaw lunged toward him. Scott managed to avoid the attack and countered with three quick shots from his gun. The rounds only managed to crack the plating around its mask.

The monster spun, slamming its thick tail into Scott's chest. He was launched backwards, breaking through a tree and out of the camera's view. The Lockjaw leapt after him, with the drone flying after it.

Ruby glanced up onto the stage and saw that Ozpin was gazing at the screen with a curious look on his face. He didn't appear to be worried at all.

"How is he still alive?" Weiss asked.

Blake's reply was equally unsure. "I… I don't know."

The camera finally found where Scott had landed. He had been thrown into a large clearing, with a small hill breaking out of the water. The young man appeared to have dropped his rifle during the hit he had taken.

He dove left suddenly, dodging another one of the monster gator's attacks. Scott tried messing with his wrist device, but the Lockjaw didn't let up and charged again. Its snout sent him sprawling onto the hill, coughing.

This time, the Lockjaw took its time advancing forward. Its prey was on the ground, visibly disabled and had nowhere to run. The beast's jaws opened wide, preparing for the final blow. Ruby shut her eyes again, not wanting to see someone die.

"Oh my god…"

A sudden cheer bolstered her sister's comment and sent her eyes flying open. Scott stood in the gator's mouth, holding its jaw apart with his bare hands. That was extremely impressive, seeing as a Lockjaw's bite was capable of crushing an armored vehicle like a tin can.

Ruby felt herself stand up and begin cheering. "Go Scott!"

Scott grabbed one of the gator's teeth and yanked it free. The beast cried out and tried to crush him once again, but couldn't overpower his grip. He spun the fang and stabbed it into the Lockjaw's tongue.

He wasn't done there.

Slamming his foot down, he drove the tooth into the bottom of its mouth. The gator wailed in pain and loosened its bite. This was the only opportunity he needed though, and dove free of its ivory cage. Once outside, he did something that made Ruby's eyes widen in surprise.

Scott tackled the Lockjaw.

Not only that, but he went straight for the mouth. The beast thrashed about, trying to dislodge him. It dove towards the water in an effort to get on favorable terrain. That did nothing for it when he grabbed the top and bottom of its mouth and pulled.

CRACK!

The Lockjaw's mouth snapped apart, sending chunks of bone flying everywhere. Scott had managed to tear the beast's top jaw free from the bottom. Black smoke began pouring from the corpse as he dropped back to the ground with a sigh.

The cheer doubled in intensity at the absolutely brutal finishing of the beast. Ruby joined them, jumping up and down and waving her arms. Yang was cheering next to her, pumping her fist in the air. Blake was clapping with a small smile on her face. Weiss had a look of complete shock on her face. Her cheering faded once she saw a familiar look in her sister's eyes.

"Well," Yang said. "He ended that in a _snap_."

Ruby let out a groan at her sister's awful pun. They were something that Yang loved to make, regardless of how terrible they were. Even living with her her entire life hadn't made her immune yet.

Rumbling suddenly shook the ground around Scott and he stumbled to his feet. The hill he had been standing on burst apart causing silence to overtake the hall. A massive, fanged plant had come bursting out of the ground where he previously stood. It was taller than any of the trees around and was leaking a dark, purple fluid from its mouth. Vines had sprouted out around the base of it and were thrashing about. Like other Grimm, it was covered in a white, bone armor. Unlike its brethren, however, the red eyes were absent.

Ruby's mouth dropped open in horror.

" _Necromaw…"_

* * *

 **And that's a wrap. If this seems like a weird place to pause, I agree. The thing is, I'm going away for Thanksgiving and probably won't write a lot, so I wanted to give you something to read. I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Quick question, which companion do you like better: Rex or ED-E?**

 **Next chapter, Scott fights the Necromaw and the aftermath of his trial.**

' **Till next time.**


	4. There Stands the Grass

' _It's like Vault 22 all-over again, only a million times worse.'_

Scott gazed up at the monstrous plant, unclear on what exactly to do. He may not even have to fight it, seeing as he had already killed a bunch of the small reptiles. However, it could be the Lockjaw he was looking for, and he wasn't keen on coming back here for a second trip.

Flipping a switch on the Pip-Boy, he chose the one weapon in his arsenal that gave every plant nightmares, Cleansing Flame. The flamethrower was capable of turning whole ranks of soldiers into a pile of charred corpses, so he figured it would do.

Esther would have been his first choice, but there was one thing stopping him from using it. He might actually need one of the plant's teeth, so it needed to stay in one piece. Incineration due to a nuclear blast probably wouldn't leave any pieces left for him to pick up.

He loosened a dial on the side, allowing the flammable gas to speed towards the nozzle. Pulling the trigger experimentally, he fired a bright blue jet of fire thirty feet in front of him. A maniacal grin spread across his face at his success.

The little test fire he did proved to cause him another problem. The fire had scorched the bottom of the plant's stalk, sending enraged screeches into the sky. Seeing as he had little time, Scott grabbed a syringe of Med-X. His neck was a little sore from his fight earlier and he didn't want that messing him up.

 **Cuphead: Floral Fury**

While he had been messing around, the plant had attacked. Scott dove left to avoid one of the plant's large vines. It had whipped toward him at blinding speed from the side. Rolling to his feet, he shot a spurt of flame at it. The fire turned it from undercooked to extra crispy in the span of about half a second.

That only took out one of the many vines thrashing about its base. Two more flew towards him, but a jet of blue flames turned them to ash. Backing up, he twisted a knob on the side to refill it with gas. The tank on his back held a lot of ammo, but he still needed to reload the gun itself every once in awhile.

Torching another vine made Scott realize something. He was getting absolutely nowhere. No matter how many of the stalks he burned, two more would just replace it. Something with a little more impact was needed.

Before he could pull out what he needed, the large plant snapped its teeth at him. Apparently, being burned alive did _not_ feel very good and now it was pissed off. Scott managed to dodge the initial bite, but the disgusting purple fluid that dripped out of its mouth sprayed everywhere. Anything it touched burned away quickly, and he was unlucky enough to get some of it on his left hand.

The pain was thankfully dulled from the Med-X he had taken. That didn't stop it from hurting like a bitch, though. It felt as if someone had grabbed a potato peeler and was slowly cutting away thin layers of his flesh. The skin crackled and burned away, exposing the shiny bone underneath. Dropping his flamethrower, Scott swore and plunged it underneath the water in an effort to wash away the acid. He was successful for the most part, cleansing the burning liquid off. It still had done serious damage to his left hand, however.

He was given no time to wallow in his agony. The plant had readied itself for another strike, and he was forced to throw himself out of the way once again. While on the ground, he summoned a new weapon. Scott rose to his feet, allowing the light to illuminate it.

Red Glare was a relic of the Old World, the flag on the side showed that. The rockets it fired weren't as damaging as Anabelle's, but they were a hell of a lot more numerous. The damage one could throw up with it was staggering, outpacing all his other launchers by far, excluding Mercy.

Scott fired a barrage of red rockets, striking the plant monster right in its face. Shrieking in pain, it whipped its head around for another attack. As it swung closer, he could make out the large burns Red Glare had left behind.

Diving under the water to avoid any acid that happened to splash off of it, Scott reloaded a new magazine. Against a monster of this size, he would need a lot more than the thirteen rockets Red Glare could hold.

With a grunt, he hefted the rocket launcher back onto his shoulder and fired another volley. The thing weighed quite a bit, but he had gotten used to maneuvering somewhat quickly with it. It involved a lot of prediction on what the enemy would do.

Another wave of explosives hit the monster, peppering its face with fireballs. In retaliation, the large plant swung its massive tentacles at him. The green vines slammed the ground where he was standing a moment before and cracked the dirt. He leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the first two. The last one, however, managed to slam him in the chest.

Though he wasn't smashed into a thin, red paste, the hit sent him tumbling into the water, dropping Red Glare. Scott curled up his body to protect himself from subsequent blows. Each blow he took felt like a super mutant was going to town with a Super Sledge. His endurance may be quite ludicrous, but his body could only take so much.

He grabbed an incendiary grenade off his belt and pulled the pin. After a short delay, a loud bang sent fire flying in every direction. Even underwater, the flames managed to scorch the plant, causing it to shriek and stop its assault.

The brief respite gave him time to stagger to his feet. Glancing around, he tried to find where Red Glare or Medicine Stick had fallen. Seeing no sight of them, Scott dove underneath the water to see if they had dropped down. It was almost impossible to see anything in the muddy water, though.

A thick vine wrapped around his ankle and yanked him up into the air. Upside down, he dangled right in front of the plant's mouth. It let out a ferocious roar, clearly fed up with how its food still managed to hurt him. The many burns and chunks of missing fiber were a clear indication of that.

Scott just let out a sigh and turned a switch on his Pip-Boy. He just wanted to finish this quickly and get a nice, stiff drink. A whirr filled the air as a large chainsaw materialized in his left hand. On his right, Two-Step Goodbye formed into existence. He could care less about the tooth at this point.

Time slowed to a crawl as he activated V.A.T.S.

* * *

"No, really, how is he not dead?"

Yang didn't even bother looking at Weiss this time. The heiress had been asking the same question non-stop for the entire fight with the Necromaw. It was starting to get on her nerves.

Not that she wasn't wondering herself, however. She prided herself on durability, but Scott took it to a whole nother level. The man shook off hits like they were nothing more than bug bites. Even after taking enough damage to kill a normal Huntsman, Scott still managed to fight like he had just started. A glance at Ozpin's only added more questions. The headmaster had a slight look of surprise on his face, which Yang wouldn't have thought was possible.

"There's no way he's human," Weiss continued, with her hands on her hips. "I haven't seen any traces of an Aura or Semblance, but he can still go toe-to-toe with this thing! Veteran Huntsman have a hard time fighting it, but he acts like it's a minor inconvenience!"

The crowd gasped as he was yanked out of the water by the Necromaw. It hung him right in front of its maw in the prime position to eat him whole. Yang watched as his expression changed from one of slight pain into intense frustration. He messed with the Pip-Boy on his belt, summoning a large chainsaw and gauntlet. Yang felt Ruby melt into her seat next to her.

The chainsaw was pretty standard, having a rotating chain and black handle. The only thing different about it, was that it seemed to run off gasoline instead of Dust if the black fumes it spat out of the exhaust showed anything.

She was more interested in the gauntlet though. It wasn't the flaming blue fist or his buzzsaw glove. This one was covered in yellow caution signs and had a large box on its wrist. A worn, black barrel extended about three or four inches from it. It looked like a bulkier version of her own Ember Celica, which only gave him another point in her book.

Hanging upside down, Scott somehow seemed to relax. His posture slumped leaving his arms dangling loosely. The grip on his weapons also loosened with his fingers barely wrapped around the handles. She saw his chest rise and fall slowly as he lowered his breath into a steady rhythm. The plant opened its mouth wide and moved to drop him in.

All of a sudden, the tentacles fell to the ground in pieces. Scott had somehow swung his chainsaw faster than Yang's brain could comprehend. That was the only explanation she could come up with. She had literally seen no blur of motion or wind up in his arms, the plant was just cut.

"W-what happened?" Ruby asked her in confusion.

Yang shot her sister a questioning look. "Didn't you see it. You know, with your speed?"

"No, I saw nothing."

She looked back to the screen in surprise. Her sister's Semblance not only sped up her movement speed, it also increased everything else. Her metabolism, reaction times, and mind were all faster than a normal person. So, for her to not notice how fast Scott had moved pushed his speed above her sister's. Her eyes widened once she realized what was going on.

After cutting himself free, Scott had dropped right into the Necromaw's waiting mouth. She watched in horror as he slipped past its large fangs and down into its gullet. An audible gulp was heard as Scott was swallowed whole by the monster.

The noise level dropped to complete silence in the auditorium once again. Yang stared silently at the screen, waiting for him to come back. He had done it once, why couldn't he do it again?

Let's just say she wasn't disappointed.

The plant froze in place for a second, before writhing about in agony. Near the base of its stalk, a spinning chain had burst through the fiber. It jerked upward, cutting a long line in the plant's skin. Scott stepped out of the hole, covered in digestive fluids. He spat some out of his mouth and onto the ground before turning back to the plant.

In one fluid movement, Scott had swung the chainsaw again. This time, the attack was horizontal. It bit into the stalk with hungry growl before tearing through the plant with ease. It shrieked in pain, dropping back to the ground without anything to support it.

With a loud screech, it began to move its dying body towards Scott, intent on taking him with it. He just let out a snort and set his chainsaw on the ground, waiting for the beast to come to him. Once it had gotten within arms length, Scott swung his right fist forward into a deadly uppercut.

Yang took a moment to appreciate his form. He threw the punch perfectly, stepping into it with his right foot. His shoulders were squared up and his feet were staggered apart. It would put any professional boxer to shame.

The yellow gauntlet collided with the underside of the monster's mouth with a tremendous bang. Buckshot sprayed into the fiber launching the beast backward. Yang grinned once she realized that his glove was basically a bulkier version of her own. It fired shotgun shells with every punch.

Her expression faded once she saw the cluster bombs.

While still in the air, the beast promptly exploded. Chunks of plant went everywhere as a fireball engulfed it. Scott just held out his hand as one of its teeth dropped into it. Grinning widely, he dematerialized his weapons and trophy and shot up a flare. After doing that, he began searching for the ones he had dropped. During his search, she watched as he lit a cigarette and began to smoke.

"YANG!"

The blonde quickly turned to her sister, making sure nothing was wrong. Ruby was sitting there, staring at the screen with a awestruck look in her eye. Yang knew that look. It was one she used whenever she wanted something.

"WE NEED HIM ON OUR TEAM!"

A grin spread across her face as she voiced her own thoughts. Yang had been having the same thoughts since he started his trial. Scott could obviously tear shit up and was quite easy to get along with. The only problem was that he wasn't keen on disclosing personal information. Yang was confident she could change that, though. There wasn't a person on the planet she couldn't break out of their shell.

Weiss glared at the two of them, "We are not getting him on the team! Just look at him! He smokes and has no knowledge of the Grimm!"

"What's wrong with that?" Yang asked in frustration. The way Weiss was treating someone who saved her life earlier was putting her at her wit's end. "He's a great fighter and a nice guy! It doesn't hurt that he's cute, too."

She grinned in triumph when the heiress blushed at that comment. Weiss had apparently noticed how good-looking Scott was. Other girls may call him handsome, based on the shape of his face and scars, but Yang knew cute was the right word. Whenever he smiled, Yang noticed the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Underneath all of the seriousness, he was still just their age. Although he was handsome, there was no denying that, she would use cute first and foremost.

"Fine," Weiss said. "We can put it to a vote, and, because you're so confident you'll win, if we have a tie, I win. Does that work for you?"

"Perfect," Yang said before turning her attention to Blake. She had stayed quiet during the whole ordeal. The blonde caught her eye and sent her a silent plea for help. When Blake nodded slightly, she quickly stifled the smile that threatened to break out on her face.

"Alright, all in favor of having Scott join our team, raise your hand." Ruby said with a gin.

Yang watched as Weiss's expression fell when three hands went into the air. "That settles it, then. Looks like Scott is on our team."

Ruby sprinted up to the stage to tell Ozpin as Weiss still sat there, flabbergasted. "You're okay with a boy on a team of four girls?"

"Yeah," Yang said. "If he tries anything, I'll beat him up."

Blake let out a small smile at that. "You might have a hard time doing that, if his trial proved anything."

The blonde opened her mouth in protest, but closed it when she realized her partner was right. Scott covered so many different positions on the battlefield so well, that he would be extremely hard to defeat. Not only did he have an impressive arsenal, he was skilled with each weapon. His form and technique while boxing even matched hers.

A flurry of rose petals cut off her thoughts before she could finish them, however. Ruby had returned with a triumphant smile on her face. She sat silently in her seat and stared at the stage.

Ozpin walked back to the podium. "I would ask you all to vote on who wants him now, but he was just claimed."

Loud protests came out from the crowd, mostly female.

"The thing was," he said with a smile. "That I never specified _when_ you could pick him. He was open since the beginning. Team RWBY has just added a new member and made my job easier at the same time. Instead of trying to come up with a new acronym, I can just make it Team RWBYS. Congratulation."

Ozpin began to move towards the door. "Now, if Team RWBYS will follow me, I will take you to your newest member."

* * *

Scott scrubbed another spot of mud off of Medicine Stick before finally setting it down on his completed pile of cleaned weapons. He had managed to find all of them after enough searching. The pilot wasn't even that mad that he had to wait an extra fifteen minutes to leave. The man had told him that he was honestly surprised Scott was even alive.

Taking another draught from the bottle of whiskey at his side, he glanced out the window of the Bullhead. They had been flying for about half an hour, giving him plenty of time to scrub each weapon clean and dress his wounds.

Speaking of wounds, Scott glanced at the bandage over his left hand. That was the first wound he had worked on, seeing as the exposed flesh would probably become infected. With how much mud and grime he had dragged it through, he would almost be disappointed if it didn't. The pain had faded to a dull throb, thanks to copious amounts of Med-X.

"Yo," the pilot called from the front. "We're coming up on Beacon, get ready."

Another look out the window confirmed the pilot's statement. The towering spires of the academy rose up in front of the ship. It was quite the impressive sight from the air.

Dematerializing all his weapons, he stood up and stretched. He pulled the two teeth he had grabbed from the monster reptile and plant out. Absent mindedly rubbing the bandages on his neck, Scott moved towards the door. His neck was missing a large chunk of flesh, and regenerating that would take a couple days. He didn't want anyone to see it, for fear that it wasn't a common occurrence here for people to heal from mortal wounds quickly. The stitching he had done had also been rushed, giving it a Frankenstein-esque look.

The Bullhead shuddered to a stop and the doors slid open. Scott clapped the pilot on the shoulder, giving him a quick thank you before walking back onto the campus. Stepping outside the ship, he looked around before his eyes fell upon the five figures waiting for him.

His eyes unconsciously fell upon Yang first. Whether it was how beautiful she was or the fact that the grin on her face made him feel uneasy, he couldn't tell. The fact that he was even considering the first option showed how much this place was affecting him. Usually, he wasn't distracted by looks, but the blonde brawler's beauty somehow did. Scott passed it off as nobody in the wasteland looking as good as her.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he looked at her younger sister. Ruby was an interesting character. Once she had gotten over the initial fright at his appearance, she had bombarded him with questions about his weaponry. The hungry look in her eye hinted towards another interrogation.

Blake was staring at him intently, her amber eyes examining every inch of him. He noticed they mostly flicked towards his neck and left hand.

The white-haired girl, Weiss, was glaring at him hatefully. This surprised him, seeing as all he had done was save her life. Even then, he was quite a charismatic fellow, able to charm almost everyone he met. He was confident a short conversation with her would change her mind.

Ozpin was the final figure, watching him behind his spectacles. Of all the people before him, he was most worried about the headmaster. He had a hidden agenda that Scott wanted no part in. Most of his life had been spent as a pawn, and he wasn't keen on becoming one again.

In a flurry of rose petals, Ruby sped up beside him and began to question him repeatedly. Grasping onto both of his hands, she looked up with literal sparkles in her eyes. He winced as she gripped his bandaged hand tightly in her own. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

"OHMYGOSHTHATWASSOCOOLCANISEEYOURWEAPONSYOU'REONOURTEAMNOWISNTTHATGREATAREYOUOKAYYOUGOTHITALOT!"

Scott blinked and took a step backward. It was extremely hard to follow the tidal wave of dialogue she had just spurt out. Thankfully, Yang wrapped her sister in a chokehold and pulled her off a him.

"Sorry 'bout that," she said, covering Ruby's mouth with her hand. "She can get really excitable."

He shot her a tired grin. "It's fine. I just wasn't expecting it."

Moving past her, Scott walked up to Ozpin and dropped both teeth into his hands. The headmaster raised an eyebrow as he examined both of them.

"You only needed one, you know."

With a nervous chuckle, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I had no idea which one was right, so I just grabbed both. For the love of Christ, tell me at least one of them is right."

"This one is a Lockjaw's fang," Ozpin said, picking the smaller of the two.

"Thank God," he sighed in relief. He wasn't keen to have to do that again. "On another note, what are they all doing here?"

The grin Ozpin shot him didn't give him any confidence. "They're your new teammates."

"A team of all girls, eh?" Scott asked out loud, looking them over. He supposed it could have been worse. At least he wasn't on a team of people he wouldn't know. "What would Raul say?"

Weiss flared up at the comment. "You better not try anything since you'll be rooming with us, alright?"

"Trust me," he said, shooting the girl a suave smirk and wink. "I wouldn't dare tarnish the honor of a girl as pretty as you."

Yang bust out laughing as Weiss's cheeks flushed a deep crimson. Scott had to keep his own mirth in check. No matter what dimension he was in, he was always a lady killer.

"With that out of the way," Scott said, turning back to Ozpin. "Where are we dormed? I kinda want to go to sleep."

The headmaster's eyebrow rose even higher. "Don't you think the infirmary would be a better place to spend the night? After all, you did take some serious hits during your trials."

Scott waved a hand in dismissal. "A normal bed will do just fine. I can sleep these papercuts off."

"Sure…" Blake said, speaking up for the first time. "And I bet you can regenerate all the corroded skin on your hand. Or the missing chunk of your throat, too."

Freezing his hand in midair, he turned sharply to her "What?"

"Well," she said as her bow twitched. "We did see the entire thing."

At this reveal, he shot a glare towards the headmaster. The usually calm man seemed to shrink under his gaze. "I thought we agreed to keep this hush-hush?"

"Did you have any other suggestions for how you wanted this done?"

Yang cut off his angry reply by grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards the academy. "Alright, that's enough out of you, you've gotta get to the infirmary. Luckily, yours truly knows exactly where it is."

"But…" he began, trying to pull himself from her grip.

"Upp, upp, upp!" she said, putting a finger over his lips. "No excuses! Let's go see the school doctor!"

Scott nearly pulled out Pew Pew and incinerated the headmaster right there. The smug grin he had behind his coffee mug put his already frayed nerves on the fritz. "I'll let her know you are coming."

* * *

Katherine Greene was a great doctor. If you were the primary physician at a school training teenagers to fight the forces of darkness, you had to be skilled. It was no surprise then, that Ozpin sent her a message to prepare for yet another injured student.

As she cleaned her workstation, she wondered vaguely what could be wrong with them. Was it a cut from Beowulf? Maybe someone twisted an ankle while in the Forever Fall? Or, what usually occurred, they were sick.

An abrupt knock caused her to glance up from her work. Pushing her brown hair out of her eyes, she gazed towards the door. "Come in!"

The door opened and through the archway walked a young blonde girl. Her attention was drawn to the young man she was dragging behind her. Bandages were wrapped around various parts of his body, including his left hand and neck. He was protesting loudly to the girl, but she didn't seem to care.

"Really, I'm fine! I don't need to see a doctor!"

The girl ignored him and turned to Katherine. "I'll be waiting outside."

With that said, she turned and left. The boy moved to follow, but Katherine cut him off. Examining his body, she pushed him back towards the bed. "Alright, before we get started, can I get a name?"

"Scott." he said, finally giving in. Scott hopped up on the bed and gave her a pleading look." Look, can just you say you looked me over? All I've got is a few cuts and bruises."

"Nonsense." Katherine said, attempting to remove the bandages around his hand. He flinched backwards, drawing it away. That didn't scare her as much as the look in his eye, however. It was one of distrust. "My name's Katherine Greene, but you can call me Kate. There's no need to be alarmed, I'm not going to hurt you."

Scott's shoulders slumped. "Sorry, but there's only one doctor I trust in this world, and he's far away back home. I've had bad experiences all around the board with all the others I've met."

"Let's hope I can change that then," Kate said, slowly moving back to his left hand. "Will you please let me see it? I can't help what I can't work with."

"Trust me, I don't think you've seen this before."

Kate sighed as he reluctantly held out his hand. "I doubt it. I've seen a wide variety of injuries over my time working here, and there's really nothing I haven't seen."

"Alright," The boy snorted as he slowly unrolled the bandages. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Her eyes widened as he unraveled more of the thickly wrapped hand. The lower layers were stained a dark maroon. He had wrapped it so many times that the blood hadn't managed to seep all the way through. After the final layer came off, she let out a gasp at the horrifying sight.

Most of the skin had been melted away, exposing his not white, but silvery bone underneath. The range of afflicted flesh stretched from his wrist to the base of his fingers. Even some of the muscle tissue and blood vessels had been corroded and extremely damaged.

"W-what happened?" she asked in horror.

Scott somehow managed to let out a sad smile. "That's not even the worst of it."

* * *

 **12 Hours Later**

* * *

Letting out a tired yawn, Scott walked towards the dorm Ozpin had assigned to him and the rest of his team. He had been in the doctor's office for the entire day, trying to fix the new wounds and even some older ones.

Dr. Greene had gone through the whole nine yards with him. After dressing his recent injuries, she had made him go through a basic medical form, seeing as he didn't have one. The doctor had been horrified at the sheer number, size, and intensity of his wounds. He had managed to give her a suitable explanation for those, thankfully. He was glad he convinced her to skip using the x-ray, though. Now _that_ would have been difficult to explain.

Scott glanced at the map on his Pip-Boy (It automatically mapped places he had been if there was no map available) and turned left to see a small door greeting him. Double checking the number on it to make sure it was correct, he pushed it open and stepped inside.

Inside, was a small dorm with four beds. To create more floor space, they had been half-hazardously stacked on top of each other as rickety bunk beds. One was made with books as support columns, while the other was held up by loosely tied ropes. Scott was just glad that they were already occupied.

Of the four girls, Blake was the only one awake. She had been reading a book by the light of a flashlight in her other hand. She looked up when he opened the door.

"Everybody thought you would be spending the night in the infirmary," she said, closing her book. "That's why nobody waited up for you."

Scott made his way over the corner of the room and materialized a pillow. "My injuries weren't that bad, so they let me go."

"Not that bad? Your skin got melted off."

"'Tis only a flesh wound." he said, laying down. He slid That Gun underneath his lumpy pillow. Scott had no plans to go to sleep, but, with Blake here, he had to at least make it look like he was. "I'm fucking tired, so I'll see you in the morning."

Blake grunted in agreement before clicking off her lamp.

* * *

 **Boom, Chapter 4 done. I hope you enjoyed it. Coming up, first day of classes and shit.**

' **Till next time.**


	5. High School Horror!

"And just what are you doing here?"

Scott cracked open an eyelid to see Weiss standing over him with fury in her eyes. Sighing, he loosened his grip on That Gun and relaxed again. "I was trying to sleep, but then you woke me up."

"No," she said in exasperation. "We thought you were staying in the infirmary all night! Why are you here?"

"Doc release me early," he said, standing up and stretching. "It only took the entire day, but I'm all patched up."

That wasn't entirely true. If he had gone to sleep, it would be. He had spent the entire night in the library, reading up on Remnant. Scott had learned about everything from Aura to Semblances to the Four Kingdoms to Grimm. It helped that he was a fast learner and retained knowledge well.

He glanced around the room. Sunlight streamed through the poorly patched curtains. Someone had made a long diagonal cut across it horizontally and then attempted to stitch it back together. His teammates, save for Weiss, were just getting out of bed.

Yang grinned and called to him from across the room. "Good because I want to have a boxing match with you. From how you looked during your fights, you'd be a fun opponent to face."

"Tell that to Veronica," he said. "Every time I sparred with her, she complained that I didn't pull any punches."

"Who's Veronica?" Ruby asked as she got out of bed.

He blinked as he realized what he just said. "She was a friend of mine from the frontier. We traveled together a lot."

"Was?"

The look on his face turned sad. "We haven't seen each other in a long time."

Weiss thankfully interrupted the mood by throwing a change of clothes into his face. Thinking about his past companions was a painful experience. Glancing down at them, he paled. It was a uniform, complete with jacket, tie, and formal pants. The bane of his existence, right next to Cazadors.

"Stop moping and get changed, we have class in fifteen minutes!"

Scott was roughly shoved into the bathroom with the door being slammed shut behind him. Outside, he could hear Yang's voice yelling at Weiss to be more considerate. With a reserved sigh, he started to pull of the Courier's Duster. He had cleaned it up a bit yesterday, but, like his Elite Riot Gear, it would have to be repaired. The holes and bloodstains all over it made it look like he had dragged it through a meat grinder.

Glancing in the mirror, he checked on his bandages. Dr. Greene had wrapped his entire torso in them to stop the bleeding and heal his cracked ribs. The lengths of cloth had done both well, now stained a deep crimson. He elected to change them later, not keen on wasting perfectly good medical supplies

With a heavy heart, he tugged on the dress pants. The thing he hated most about it, was how constricting it felt. His movement was severely limited, not boding well for him if a fight broke out. The shirt and jacket came next, equally as uncomfortable. To save himself some discomfort, he left the entire thing unbuttoned and rolled up the sleeves. The latter was done so his Pip-Boy didn't get caught underneath them. Last, and certainly least, came the tie. At this point, he'd rather tie a noose with it and hang himself right then and there. Ever since the Sierra Madre, any object around his neck triggered some serious PTSD.

' _You know what? No! I refuse to wear this death trap!'_

He dropped the length of fabric to the ground and combed through his rough hair once with his hand. Since he lost his cowboy hat yesterday, Scott would have nothing to help cover up his scars. That wasn't a reassuring thought, seeing as no one else he had met had injuries like his.

To ease some of his worries, he tucked the Ranger Sequoia and A Light Shining in Darkness into his blazer. Not satisfied with just two handguns, he slipped Blood-Nap and Chance's Knife onto his belt. Figaro was placed just inside his sleeve with a couple flashbangs, just in case his other weapons weren't enough. Three frag grenades were tucked into his pants pockets. Satisfied with his weaponry, he stuffed it all out of sight.

He stepped back into the room. Weiss frowned when she saw Scott's messy job of dressing. "You aren't seriously going out like that, are you?"

Their own uniforms were somehow deemed appropriate for school. The skirts were extremely short, showing off plenty of leg. The tops weren't anything to write home about, consisting of a jacket, undershirt, and shorter tie. Scott snapped his eyes off Yang when she noticed his gaze. She let out a sly grin, before roaming her own eyes up and down his body.

"Hey!" Yang protested. "I think he looks great! I'm sure none of the teachers will mind."

He snorted and moved towards the door. "Where's our first class?"

"We have Grimm Studies with Professor Port." Ruby said, producing a schedule from seemingly nowhere. "And today, we'll actually be on time for it!"

They walked out in the hallway only to come across the other group of students he had met on his first day here. The blonde knight, Jaune, the Spartan, Pyrrha, the ginger demolitionist, Nora, and the quiet boy in the long coat (Scott agreed with his fashion sense), Ren. Their team waved a hello to his as they began making their way to class.

"Yang told me you use a hammer." Nora said, bouncing up to him. "What's her name?"

Scott let out a grin. "Oh Baby!"

A loud laugh caused him to turn towards the blonde brawler. She was chuckling at the disappointed expression on her sister's face. "Ruby, why are you upset? His weapon names are the best!"

"They're just funny! There's no cool factor!"

"Fine," Scott said. "You want a cooler name? My ballistic fist, the weapon that blew up the big plant's head, is named Two-Step Goodbye."

Ruby's eyes sparkled. "That's so cool!"

"It is a shotgun gauntlet though, right?" Yang asked him.

"Sure," Scott said, materializing it. "It fires enough pellets to liquify body parts and, if I hit hard enough with it, sprays cluster bombs everywhere."

He laughed as Ruby's expression somehow filled with even more awe. It was nice to find someone who actually appreciated his weapons. The only person who had ever come close to it was Raul, and, with that knowledge, had taught Scott how to repair and maintain his own gear. He put away Two-Step Goodbye in a flash of blue.

Weiss cut him out of his thoughts. "Speaking of weapons, how does your wrist device work? I know you said it digitizes objects, but that doesn't really help clarify anything."

"Honestly," he said. "I have no idea. I have kept my tinkering on the thing to a minimum to avoid breaking it."

Their conversation was halted upon reaching the classroom doors. Entering it, he was greeted with a much different take than the Mojave's. Although he had never been to school, he had been in enough schoolhouses to guess how it went. The seats were arranged in rows of increasing height, allowing anyone and everyone to always see the front. At the front, a larged blunderbuss-axe hung from a wooden panel above boards with various drawings of Grimm. Ruby sped to a seat near the very front of the class and sat down. Scott moved to sit on the end, but Yang grabbed his arm and shoved him right between her and Blake. Sighing quietly to himself, he took a puff of Jet and prepared himself for the worst.

Scott was not expecting a grey-haired, bushy-mustached, formally-dressed man to teach their class. Personally, he was expecting someone who looked like they had seen their fair share of conflict. The portly figure would look completely out of place on the battlefield, with both his attire and physical condition. He kept his judgements to himself, however. Underestimating anyone was a mistake that he vowed never to make.

He stopped paying attention in the first word of the teacher's speech.

The man (Scott couldn't be bothered to remember his name) had the type of voice that just droned on and on. Glancing to his left, he noticed that most of his team had the same idea. He pulled A Light Shining in Darkness out from his jacket and began to disassemble and reassemble the handgun without looking. It had become a habit of his since he had been shot. Scott had a hard time sitting still, and this gave something for his hands to do while his mind wandered.

Another look towards his team had him stifling a small smile. Ruby had been periodically falling asleep and waking up through the lecture. It didn't actually sound like a bad idea, since he couldn't even remember the last time he had gone to sleep. Pretty soon, it was going to start having an effect on his psyche.

His mind continued to wander, until it eventually fell onto a problem he had been thinking about ever since he had arrived here. Stimpacks. The lack of the medical syringe concerned him. While his healing factor was honestly quite ridiculous for any human being (he could feel the flesh of his hand regenerating), stimpacks simply accelerated it. He would have to take a trip down to the chemistry lab and see if he could synthesize any.

A sudden yanking on his arm nearly caused him to drop his pistol. Yang had grabbed his arm and hoisted it into the air, waving it about. He swore loudly and almost fell out of his chair at the unexpected pull.

"Perfect! If your trial video yesterday was anything to go off of, then you will do a fine job! Ozpin informed me that you carry all your weaponry in that device on your wrist, so just hop up here and face your challenge."

Scott's mind went blank for a brief moment before he realized what was going on. Stuffing his gun back into his jacket, he created a way to buy time.

"Sure," he said, standing up. "I just... dropped something, so I'll get that real quick."

Quickly tossing one of his knives onto the ground, he dragged Yang to the floor also. She chuckled nervously at the glare he sent her way. Sighing, he picked up his knife and stared her straight in the eyes pleadingly. Although he was mad at her, he needed all the help he could get right now.

"What the hell am I doing?"

Yang's grin came back. "Port wanted someone to fight a Grimm he has in the corner of his room, and Ruby and I volunteered you for it."

He gazed at her in disbelief. There was no Grimm in the room when they had entered. Scott peeked over top of the desk, looking for a sign of the beast. A cage had mysteriously appeared in the corner of the room (He wasn't kidding. With his perception, he would have noticed the cage right away). Two red eyes peered out of the dark openings in the cage's bars. Dropping back down behind their table, he looked at her in confusion.

"One, when did that get there and two, why did you pick me?"

"For your first question," Yang said, her trademark grin never leaving her face. "I honestly have no idea. For your second one, I wanted to see you fight again. It's really exciting!"

She grabbed Ruby from her seat and dragged her down to the floor. The scythe-wielder gave him a puppy dog look that had absolutely no effect on him. Many children had tried the same approach before to no avail. Giving them a deadpanned look, Scott let out another sigh. Now he was conflicted. On one hand, he didn't want to fight for other people's amusement. But, he was pretty bored and wanted something to help loosen him up.

"Alright," Scott said, standing up. "Any suggestions?"

Yang clapped him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit! As for tips, use any one of your gauntlets. I really want to see you punch some more stuff!"

He nodded her way before vaulting over the desk. Slipping a box of cigarettes out of his jacket, he lit one and faced the cage. Port was standing next to it with both hands crossed behind his back. Replacing the pack, he shoved both hands into his pockets.

"Gooooooo Scott!"

The Courier turned briefly back to his team. Yang had shot him an encouraging fist pump. Blake had produced a flag with their team name on it and was waving it back and forth.

"Fight well," she called with a flourish.

Ruby let out a cheer. "Represent Team RWBYS!"

"Ruby!" Weiss said, her tone frustrated. "Don't distract him."

Scott frowned before turning back to the task at hand. The heiress had seemed testy all morning, and he had a small idea why. She probably had been expecting the role as leader, and, when she didn't receive it, had obviously been mad.

When Ozpin had told him that a Ruby was his leader, Scott was more relieved than anything. Sure, he had had lead his fare share of missions, but he honestly hated it. Even when he had gained New Vegas's independence, he had turned down the task of heading it, instead choosing to leave it with his companions.

"Oh…" Ruby said, her expression turning downcast. "Sorry…"

Scott shot his leader an encouraging smile. He was always a sucker for those in need of any sort of help. In fact, he was used to letting others walk all over him so he could benefit others. "Don't listen to her, you can cheer as much as you want."

Her expression quickly brightened as she sat up in her seat.

"Alright," Port said, hoisting his axe. "Let the match… BEGIN!"

With his final word, he chopped the lock off the cage. The monster was immediately illuminated with the front of the cage gone. It appeared to look like some sort of monster pig, with large, white tusks sprouting from the front of its face. Scott pulled his right hand out of his pocket, and in a flash of blue, materialized Pushy onto it.

The boar charged towards him quickly, intent on goring him on its massive tusks. Scott just sighed and cocked his fist back.

' _Different world, same dumb animals.'_

Stepping forward with his right foot, he slammed the Displacer Glove home into the monster's snout. He felt the familiar wave of energy pulse from the end of the gauntlet as it connected with the beast's flesh. The pig squealed in agony as it was launched across the room before slamming into the wall.

"Such amazing strength behind those arms of yours!" Port called from his spot in the gallery. "But, the fight isn't over yet!"

It staggered to its feet and shook its head angrily. The only sign of any damage, was the small crack at the base of the beast's right tusk. During this fight, he decided not to use all of his strength. If he had swung any harder, he was certain he could've turned its head to mush.

This time, instead of charging straight at him, it watched him carefully. Scott grinned to himself at the beast's wary expression. With only one hit, he had completely changed its outlook on the battle.

"Go for its belly!" Ruby called from her desk. "It has no armor underneath!"

Scott nodded in acknowledgement, before putting away Pushy. The energy damage of the glove wouldn't help him for piercing flesh, but he already had an idea on how to do that. What he didn't expect, however, was for the boar to spin its body up into a circle. It looked like the tire on a speeding car.

"The fuck…?" he mumbled, placing his feet apart. It was quite obvious that it was still going to charge him with this move. Thankfully, with V.A.T.S. and a well time thrust, he could turn its attack into its death.

The boar rocketed forward, screeching against the ground. Just before it hit him, Scott activated V.A.T.S. When time slowed around him, he could perfectly time when the monster's cracked horn would be within arms reach. Another smile broke out across his face.

This was just too easy.

The flow of time turned back to normal quickly. Wasting no time, Scott stepped forward slightly for a better position. When the boar hit him head-on, he made sure to prepare for the impact. The hit forced his boots a couple feet backward across the tiled floor, but he stayed upright. Stopping the blow like a stone wall, he grasped both hands firmly around the injured tusk. With a sharp crack, it separated from the beast and altered its momentum. Still holding onto the base of the broken tusk with one hand, he slammed it into the ground, belly up.

Scott grinned and flipped the bone around through his fingertips before stabbing it through the monster's stomach. He used enough force to impale the floor below it. Standing up, he dusted off his hands and turned towards the professor.

"How'd I do?"

"Excellent! I have never seen such a hands-on tactic when fighting a Boarbatusk! Most Huntsman keep it at a range to avoid being impaled, but you dove right into the thick of it! May I ask what school taught you this approach?"

"School?" Scott asked in confusion. "I never went to school."

Port's eyes, along with the rest of the classes, widened in disbelief. "Really? Than how did you learn to fight like you do?"

"A couple acquaintances I've met have given me pointers," he said, moving back to his seat. "Other than that, I taught myself through trial and error, mostly the latter."

"Extrao-"

The bell rung abruptly, cutting off the rest of his speech. He glanced at the clock before turning back to the class.

"And that appears to be all the time we have for today! Make sure to do the assigned readings, and remember… stay vigilant!"

As soon as he had dismissed them, Yang walked over with a confused expression. "You never went to school?"

He nodded as they moved towards the door. "Well, I am from the frontier. It's hard to attend school in a lawless wastel- desert."

Mentally cursing himself for the slip up, he watched as Yang's eyes narrowed at the mistake. She was a lot more attentive than he gave her credit for. Hopefully, she wouldn't dwell too much on it and just leave it alone. Though for how his luck sometimes ran, it wasn't out of the question.

Scott slipped outside before she could voice any opinions and ran face-first into Ruby. The poor girl looked on the verge of tears. Glancing in the direction she was facing, he could see Weiss walking down the hallway. Piecing together what happened, he turned back to her.

"Scott," she asked. "Do you think I'm a bad leader?"

' _Oh hell.'_

 _"_ Why are you asking me? I haven't even been on your team for 24 hours."

"I know," Ruby said. "But I can't ask Yang because she's my sister and Blake isn't the most social. You also were the first person I've seen."

He put a hand to his chin in thought, letting his motor mouth buy him time until he could come up with a proper answer. "I don't know. Right now, you are a clean slate, doing neither wrong nor right. But then again, people have different opinions on what makes a good leader. Weiss might not have the same requirements that you or I have. I can tell you mine though, if that makes you feel better."

Ruby nodded as she gazed up at him.

"In my opinion, a good leader needs three things, empathy, bravery, and selflessness. From what I've seen so far, you have all these traits."

"So do you!" she said.

"Maybe," Scott replied with a shrug. "But, some of my qualities can rub others the wrong way. I can go too far in some scenarios. My anger has caused me to lose my cool before. And don't confuse selflessness with recklessness. There were a million other ways I could have saved you from the Deathstalker without getting impaled, but I didn't do any of them. While you need to be selfless in your decisions, you can't go getting yourself killed. A leader is the head of the team they lead, so it's like cutting off the brain from the body, the parts just stop functioning. Honestly, you're doing a pretty bang up job, all things considered. You've got no complaints from me so far."

When tears welled up in Ruby's eyes, he prepared himself for the worst. Although he was quite a good speaker, it wouldn't work every time. He was surprised when she smiled up at him and wiped away the wet spots.

"Thank you," she said, before wrapping him in a hug.

Scott froze and tensed up, not used to non-threatening physical contact. After a second, however, he hesitantly hugged her back. She dried the rest of her face on his jacket and, for the first time in forever, he actually smiled.

* * *

 **Four Hours Later**

* * *

Yang scowled as Scott ducked underneath another punch and backpedaled quickly. He had only agreed to spar with her after nearly non-stop pestering. So far, one of them had yet to land a solid blow. The stands of the arena were practically empty, save for the rest of Team RWBYS (save Weiss) and JNPR.

Scott had changed out of his clothes and into his jeans and flannel. Around his hands, he had wrapped white boxing tape. They had decided to go without weapons and just do a battle of skill and strength. He currently sat back and watched her with his hazel eyes. If she wasn't busy trying to get a hit on him, Yang would've examined them closer. They constantly shifted left to right, taking in about a thousand different details without losing focus on her.

She leapt forward again going for his gut. He twisted his body to avoid the blow and countered with a left jab of his own. Yang blocked the attack with her left forearm before hitting him square in the chest.

Using the momentum, he fell back out of her reach. Scott hopped to his feet before wincing and holding his chest. She couldn't keep the grin from spreading across her face. Finally, after around ten minutes, one of them landed a hit.

He began to circle her slowly, eyes searching for an opening to exploit. When she kept her guard up, Scott continued his circling. Yang shuffled her feet uncomfortably at the analytical way he looked at her. His gaze wasn't like most guys who simply drunk in her looks. The stare he gave her reminded of a surgeon looking for the best spot to cut.

Without warning, he lunged forward into a haymaker. She quickly crossed her arms to block the telegraphed attack. It confused her that after so much waiting, he would stick to such a easy-to-read move. When he ducked behind her without swinging, Yang realized her mistake.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, before she felt herself unceremoniously flipped and slammed into the ground. He had dropped her into a wicked suplex that most people wouldn't be able to get up after. However, Yang noticed that he hadn't smashed her neck into the ground, instead dropping her on her shoulder. She was personally frustrated that he hadn't gone all out.

Rolling to the left, she avoided his follow-up punch. Yang flipped herself onto her feet and slammed her right fist into his face. When his body didn't move, she swung her other hand into his chest.

Both his arms came up and stopped the blow. Before she could react, his left fist lashed out and nailed her in the throat. Yang stumbled backward, gasping and clutching her neck. A single strand of golden hair floated down in front of her face. Apparently, one of her hairs had been tugged out during the close-range encounter.

Then everything went red.

* * *

 **Casey Lee Williams: I Burn**

Ruby winced as Scott took one of her sister's rage-filled punches and went flying to the wall. Once someone touched Yang's hair, she would go on an unstoppable rage until that person was beaten to a pulp. The rest of her friends just watched in horror as she leapt after him, intent on continuing her rampage.

Scott stumbled to his feet and managed to put up a feeble guard before Yang slammed into him. Her initial blow knocked both his arms away, before the second shot nailed him in the gut. He doubled over and let out a cough at the impact. Ignoring his pain, she uppercutted his jaw and knocked him off his feet and onto his back.

Yang swung her fist down towards his face. Scott rolled out of the way as her hit cracked the floor. He quickly flung himself out of her path, narrowly avoiding another blow. Sliding backwards, he stood up and faced the blonde brawler once again.

Red eyes glared back at him underneath a mane of fiery blonde hair. Ruby felt bad for him. Nobody had ever defeated Yang with both her Semblance and anger at max. However, Scott showed no fear. If anything, he was pissed off himself.

She landed another hit, this time right in the side of his head. Tumbling to the ground, he laid there unmoving. Yang erupted forward, intent on finishing the fight once and for all. Ruby averted her eyes, not keen on watching Scott get pummeled into the ground, especially when he had just helped her out today.

"Really?"

His voice rang out from the arena. Ruby glanced back to the fight and gasped. Scott was bent over, having stood up and caught her sister's fist in his right hand. The gleam in his eyes and grin on his face did not reflect his bruised body. Straightening up, he spat out a glob of blood clenched his left fist.

"You flip out over a piece of fucking hair?"

Lightning fast, his hand struck. It slammed into Yang's shoulder and sent her reeling backwards. Letting go of her hand, Scott dropped low to the floor and swept his legs through hers. Already off balance, the added kick only aided in her trip to the floor.

Before he could capitalize on it, she had rocketed back to her feet in an attempt to catch him off guard. He ducked underneath the hook, before catching the jab that followed. Spinning around, he threw her over his shoulder into the floor. From across the room, Ruby saw the wind get knocked out of her sister.

While she was on the ground, he jabbed his open palm into her throat. Yang's body froze up entirely, unmoving. Since she had no way to defend, Scott wrapped his arm around her throat before restraining her arms and legs with his remaining limbs. Even if she escaped now, she would be trapped in Scott's embrace.

He held it for five seconds before letting go and standing up. Scott had won by completely immobilizing her sister. In all the fights she had ever watched, Ruby had never seen anyone try that tactic before.

Scott made his way to the sideline before entering the boy's locker room.

* * *

' _Owwwwww.'_

Clutching the icepack closer to her face, Yang winced as she felt the bruise. Scott had absolutely smashed through her Aura upon reaching his second wind. The young man had completely surprised her with his unorthodox style and sheer endurance. He had the technique of a professional boxer, but cared naught for flashiness and showmanship. All of his moves were brutally effective, completing their purpose and not much else.

On the side of endurance, there was no doubt he had her outclassed. None of her hits, even when enraged, had seemed to slow him down. And her dad had compared her punches when angered to that of a freight train. Either she wasn't as strong as she thought, or Scott had been taking similar blows his entire life. Of the two, she was leaning towards the latter, seeing as she had landed some serious hits on him.

Speaking of his injuries, that was why Yang was currently on her way down to the boy's locker room. After she had been unfrozen from whatever muscle-paralyzing move he used, Scott had left to go get change. He hadn't even stayed long enough to let the others come down and congratulate him. She was worried. He was pretty pissed of when he left, clearly not happy with the fact that she had nearly crushed over her hair.

Most of the time, Yang would have said he deserved it, but the way he acted after she had gone berserk was scary. Scott had been absolutely livid for seemingly no reason. After that moment, he didn't pull any punches. The blonde had realized that she only lasted as long as she did because Scott wasn't going all out.

The faint sounds of music began to drift down the hallway towards her. Yang could make out a ukulele and whistle, but couldn't understand the words. The static undertone let her know it was Scott's.

She turned left, entering the locker room. The first part was bathrooms and toilets, a short hallway leading towards the showers and lockers. Something red in the trash can had caught her eye when she walked past. Doubling back to it, she gazed at it in intrigue. The length of red and white cloth confused her at first, at least, until she realized what the red was.

It was fresh blood.

The bandages were no doubt Scott's, seeing as there were no combat classes today and the janitor's came by regularly. This concerned her. Usually, Aura would regenerate wounds within a day and then the bleeding would stop.

Yang continued forward, passing through the small bathroom. Once she reached the showers, she could finally make out the words to the song. Scott's voice was easy to hear among the actual singers.

" _Heartaches by the number, troubles by the score. Everyday you love me less, each day I love you more."_

Scott was sitting on a bench in the middle with his back facing away from her, drinking from a glass bottle. His shirt sat discarded on the floor, revealing his bare back for the world to see. Yang let out a sharp gasp at the horrifying amalgamation of scars.

Great, jagged ruts ran every which way across his back. Some of them were bleeding lightly. There were also many burns ranging from large to small. Small, circular bullet wounds were about as numerous as the burns. The most notable, however, were the surgical scars. The largest ran straight down in spine in a great, long gash. Yang had never seen such that many scars in her entire life. Normally, unless the wound was serious, Aura would heal up any injuries without a trace. At most, she had seen two to three on the more veteran Huntsman. She had noticed the scars on his face when he had taken off his helmet at first, but hadn't got the chance to ask him yet.

"Not the prettiest sight, is it?"

He stood up and turned around to face her. Apparently, Scott had noticed her loud intake of breath. When she saw his chest, she was greeted to nearly the same sight as his back. Scars of varying intensity crossed across his torso. There was a star-shaped wound over his left pectoral. Underneath all the injured skin, she noticed he was lithe, but muscular. Where most guys their age tried to go big or go home, Scott's cord-like muscles showed years of experience and work that they could never hope to achieve.

Yang forced her roaming eyes back to his face. He was sporting his own bruises, similar to her own. Shooting her a tired smile, he finished the bottle and tossed it into the trash. She noticed that he slipped the bottle cap into his pocket.

"I need to apologize," he started nervously, grabbing a roll of bandages. "In the Mojave, where I'm from, people would kill others for the most miniscule reasons and I lost friends because of it. Your outburst brought back some bad memories."

"I-It's fine," she said, not expecting for him to apologize. "I actually came down here to say sorry myself. Nobody warned you that I'm quite defensive with my hair."

Scott snorted while he wrapped the roll around his still bleeding chest. "Yeah, that would've been nice to know earlier."

"Heh-heh," she chuckled, twirling a strand of her hair through her fingers. The nonchalant way he fixed up his wounds put her off guard. She suddenly straightened when she realized something.

"Why hasn't your Aura fixed up your injuries yet?"

"Hmm?" Scott said, glancing up from his work. The lower half of his bleeding torso was already wrapped in a thick layer of cloth. "Oh, I don't have one."

Yang's jaw dropped. He didn't have an Aura? That was completely unheard of for a Huntsman. It was their primary defense, and, in the case of some Semblances, their most powerful offense. For someone to survive as long as he had without one, was a true testament to his skill.

"Why don't you have one?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

"Never got around to it. Honestly, I thought it would be more common to not have one than it is."

With every word that came out of his mouth, she only felt her disbelief grow. His calm demeanor didn't help the growing dread she was experiencing. Fed up with it, she reached out to grab him. Scott flinched and took a step away from her, distrust clear on his face. Ignoring his reaction, she clasped both hands around his arms.

"Well," she said, cracking a reassuring smile. "I'm gonna activate yours right now. It wouldn't do you any good to continue without one, now would it?"

After getting over his initial surprise, Scott just shook his head sadly. "'Fraid it's not that easy, Yang. A person's Aura is the entirety of their soul, containing their entire essence. I don't think anyone could handle what I've seen."

"Sure…" Yang said, not quite believing his words. Scott may have a lot of scars, but she was confident that she could unlock his Aura. "Now close your eyes and listen closely to my words."

Taking a deep breath, she began to chant. " _For it is in passing that we achieve mortality."_

The setting around them changed as she began to unlock Scott's Aura. A large, sprawling desert appeared around them. Unlike the pleasant pictures of Vacuo she had seen, this one was desolate and barren. There was no flora or fauna to be seen, except for a couple of dried bushes. The sun shone down upon them harshly.

Ignoring their surroundings, Yang tried to continue the ceremony. However, a literal tidal wave of emotions assaulted her. Depression, rage, paranoia, shame, suffering, horror, and, most of all, loneliness. These and many more caused her to fall backwards, breaking apart the process. Tears unwillingly welled in her eyes at the sheer strength and power of the feelings.

Scott opened his eyes as the locker room came back into focus. He offered her a hand and she gladly took it. Lifting her up, he buttoned up his shirt and moved to the door. The young man stopped in the doorframe before turning his head slightly towards her.

"You should get to bed. I expect that attempt took a lot out of you."

And, without another word, he left her alone to brood on what she had discovered.

* * *

 **This chapter was interesting to write. I always felt that the first day was too short and that there should have been more going on. That's the beauty of fanfiction though, right? I can make this story go in whatever direction I choose.**

 **I hope I did a good job on the fight with Yang. She's one of my favorite characters and I'd hate to mess her up.**

' **Till next time.**

 **P.S. Kudos to whoever can recognize what my chapter titles are.**


	6. Medical Mystery

Scott yawned as he set his tray on the table and sat down. The lack of sleep was really starting to affect him.

After Yang had tried to unlock his Aura, it had brought back all his memories in detail, including all the ones he wasn't proud of. It had changed trying to go to sleep from difficult to nigh impossible. Every time he closed his eyes, he relived some of his most painful moments. Whether it was massacring the White Legs, nuking the Divide, or joining the Legion. That last one had only been for a short while, but it was a mistake that he would live with the rest of his life.

He had spent his entire night in the workshop, repairing his Elite Riot Gear. His efforts had been more than successful, not only completely restoring it, but adding a couple upgrades too. There had been a couple plates of Saturnite sitting around in his inventory that he had never used. It took up most of his time, but he added the super-durable metal to the armor. His helmet also got an upgrade in the form of thermal lenses and heartbeat sensors. The components for it had just been sitting out on the counter, begging to be used.

Rubbing his eyes, he finally noticed what he had put on his plate. A heap of yellow mush, two of what he assumed were sausages, and a glass of orange liquid. Scott hadn't been paying attention at all when he had started filling his tray. His body had been on autopilot ever since leaving the armory. Out of habit, he waved the Pip-Boy over the food to check for radiation. Like every other time, there were no signs of contamination.

"Good morning, Scott!"

Ruby greeted him cheerfully as she sat down across from him. Her tray was laden with what he assumed were more sugary foods. He hadn't seen her eat anything different in the short time they had dined together. Blake, Weiss, and Yang filled in the remaining spots, Yang being the only one to sit next to him. The latter also shot him a worried glance.

Scott swore under his breath at the blonde's reaction. There was no doubt that he would be hearing about what happened last night later.

He quickly turned that swear into a grunted greeting to his team, before poking the yellow pile on his plate with a fork. It smelled good, but he still had no idea what it was. It smelled like a radiation-free box of Yum Yum Deviled Eggs.

"So, the weekend is coming up soon." Ruby said cheerfully. "I was thinking we could show you around the city."

The Courier glanced up from his plate. "Sure, I was running low on ammo anyway. Is there anyplace I can get some?"

"Yeah!" the scythe wielder nodded. "I know a great place, that is, if they've reopened."

"Good," Scott said, finally taking a bite of the food. It tasted like deviled eggs, but fresh and uncontaminated.

Weiss took this as her turn to speak up. "Why do you have such disgusting habits?"

"Hmm?" he asked, only half paying attention. The real problem he faced right now, was identifying the mysterious orange liquid.

"You smoke, drink, and do who knows what else! I've seen you take syringes both during your trial and our initiation, so I can add drugs to the list, too."

"Weiss!" Ruby said, tugging on her arm. "Don't accuse people of those sort of things!"

Scott lifted his glass and took a hesitant sniff. His nose was assaulted by a acidic, but sweet, smell. Putting it to his lips, he took a tiny sip. Just like the smell, it was slightly acidic, but also sugary. He set it back down before turning to the heiress.

"So, you want to know why I've got horrible addictions?" he said, spearing a sausage on his fork. Quite honestly, he was getting fed up with Weiss. The constant pessimism and haughtiness was making his trigger finger more than a little itchy. "Sweetheart, chems are the only reason I'm alive. Sure, I may have gotten a couple addictions along the way, but I've still got all my limbs. That's a price I'm willing to pay."

The whole table seemed to freeze up at his admittance. Blake's bow twitched and her eyes widened in surprise. Weiss's expression turned to one of disgust, but also satisfaction at his claim. Ruby's expression had turned to one of horror and she had put her hands to her mouth. Yang stiffened next to him, clearly trying to keep her emotions in.

"I knew it!" the heiress called, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I told you all last night, but none of you believed me! Why did Ozpin even let you in?"

"That," Scott said, taking a bite of the meat. It was tender and juicy and better than any Salisbury Steak he had ever had. "Is a very good question. Frankly, I have no clue myself. Maybe he saw something beneath the chems, cigarettes, and alcohol. Who knows?"

"Scott," Ruby began hesitantly, her voice slightly muffled by her hands. "Is this true?"

He didn't acknowledge her, not willing to give anything else away. His frustration had already divulged more information than he had liked. The tense mood was thankfully destroyed when Glynda's voice crackled over the intercom.

" _Scott Lawrence, please report to the headmaster's office."_

Although he wasn't religious, Scott silently thanked God for the interruption. He wasn't sure if he could have stalled anymore. His short temper had gotten him into many situations like this before.

Standing up to leave, he froze when Yang grabbed his arm. The blonde gave him an extremely concerned look, making Scott shift uncomfortably. He couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at him with actual concern.

"Answer the question." she said.

Scott gulped. "Yeah, I honestly don't remember the last time I was sober."

Her grip loosened as she let the words sink in. Mentally cursing himself, he pulled himself free and made his way to the headmaster's tower.

* * *

Yang watched Scott walk away silently. She was really starting to get worried. That was why she had told Ozpin about her and Scott's little _thing_ that happened. The sheer self-loathing, guilt, and other emotions she had felt last night after trying to unlock his Aura had kept her up all last night. After lying in bed for hours, she had made sure to tell the headmaster everything. Since she didn't know how to help him out, Yang figured Ozpin would at least have an idea.

It wasn't because she knew the guy very well, they had only met a couple days ago. However, in the small task of awakening his Aura, she had seen into his very being. This, and the conversation that had just gone on, had given her some background information for her to go off.

The sprawling desert in which they had found themselves was obviously where he was from (They were in his soul after all). What she found worrying, was how harsh it had been. The sand was coarse and rough, far cry from the sand on beaches she had visited. Its sun had been extremely hot, and, even in the short, revealing clothing she usually wore, had her sweating in seconds. Though it wasn't real, the air had been stale and hurt to breathe.

That brought her to the second new thing. When they had questioned him about his addictions, instead of calling them drugs, he had used the word "chems." Yang had never heard that word before today. It was probably short for chemicals, but the tone he used labeled it not as a nickname, but what he actually called them. She would have to ask her dad or uncle if they had ever heard of such a thing.

"Yang?"

Snapping herself out of her reverie, she looked to her younger sister. Ruby had tears in her eyes and was staring at the door Scott had went through.

"Why would he do all those things? Everyone knows drugs aren't good for you!"

Before she could reply, Weiss cut her off. "It's because he's a no-good scoundrel! I wouldn't be surprised if the headmaster was expelling him right now!"

Yang felt her hair flicker slightly. The heiress had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. She hadn't felt or seen what Yang had. Though she didn't agree with his methods, she understood why he did them. The fraction of his emotions that she had felt had clued her in to how utterly depressing his life was. Whatever he had gone through before coming to Beacon must have been devastating.

"Shut up!" she said. "You don't know what he's been through!"

Weiss blinked before scoffing. "And you do?"

"I have a better idea than you!" Yang continued, standing up. "Last night, I found out he didn't have an Aura! I tried to unlock it for him, but I couldn't! The amount of pain and sadness his soul contained shouldn't even be possible!"

Without realizing it, she had begun to shout. The cafeteria had gone quiet, all eyes fixed on her. Honestly, she didn't care. Weiss had finally reached the end of her short temper. It started with her belittlement of Ruby, escalated because of her petty and stuck-up attitude, and finally ended when she insulted Scott.

"Scott doesn't have an Aura?" Ruby asked.

"No!" Yang sighed, sitting back down. The dining hall had returned to normal after a couple seconds of awkward silence. "And he acted like it wasn't that big of a deal! After I couldn't activate it, he blew me off without explaining anything! I asked the headmaster to talk to him because I literally don't know what to do."

The heiress had gone silent, at least looking just a little bit guilty. Blake, on the other hand, tapped Yang's arm. The blonde looked at the girl wearily.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. You've just got to give him some time. If anyone knows what to do, it will be Ozpin."

* * *

Ozpin had no idea what to do.

Scott was the very definition of an enigma. The scariest part was how open he was about it. The Courier wasn't afraid to show emotion, he did it all the time. What Ozpin hated, was how he never knew if it was genuine.

Right now, said man was sitting across from him in his office. In his hands, was a small, but thick, leather book. Scott wasn't reading it, though. He just traced his index finger over the glossy title of the volume over and over again.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," the headmaster began. Though he didn't know exactly what to do, he had brainstormed a few ideas beforehand. "I would have called you earlier, but I have been absolutely swamped with paperwork. After telling the council about you, I have been getting constant requests for certain "under the radar" projects they want you for."

The young man glanced up and raised an eyebrow. "You told them everything?"

"Yes," Ozpin said. "I figured it would be best to inform them of your arrival. Having them find out on their own would be quite disastrous, both for you and me. If I hadn't told them, they would have wasted no time in using you for their own personal gain. At least now, I can defend you from being misused on my own terms."

He nodded. "Of all the monsters I have faced in my short career, none are more dangerous than the politician. That was one of the reasons I left New Vegas. Although I certainly had the tongue for it, my constant fear of getting stabbed in the back had doubled and I didn't need anymore paranoia in my life. I'm glad to see at least one thing is the same between our worlds."

Ozpin chuckled in agreement. The boy did have a way with words. Everything he said was woven in a way that made it hard not to agree. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. Any conversation consisted of Ozpin trying to figure out whether Scott was genuine or had a hidden agenda.

"While I wanted you to know this," Ozpin said, shuffling through one of the folders on his desk. It contained the limited information they had managed to get on Scott. "I have other reasons for calling you here. The first, contains something you will find interesting."

Scott motioned for him to go on, taking a sip from the flask that seemed perpetually hooked around his waist.

"I've found a way for you to improve your combat."

To the headmaster's disbelief, he nodded in acknowledgement. "I thought you would've." A wide grin spread across his face at Ozpin's expression. "What? You think I'm so arrogant that I won't notice my own shortcomings? Please, that kind of behavior gets you killed. I would know. So, how do you suggest I go about improving it?"

Ozpin shook himself out of his shock with a small smile. The Courier was just full of surprises. At first glance, he appeared to be one who was overconfident. However, the young man's reveal had proved everything except that.

"I am limiting the amount of weapons you can use in combat."

Raising his eyebrow again, Scott gave the headmaster a curious glance. "How would that help me?"

"Well," Ozpin said. "I've watched clips of all your fights, including your brawl with Miss Xiao Long last night. While you are certainly skilled, nothing really stuck out to me. You acted as a jack of all trades, master of none. There is nothing wrong with that, but, as a headmaster, it is my primary goal to teach. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't help you."

"So, you want me to get better in each individual category?" The Courier asked, flipping through the book in his hand without looking.

"Yes. I believe that with the proper training, you could become the most skilled man alive. Your melee skill is already extremely good, far surpassing any Huntsman at your level. Everything else, was a bit below average. If someone were to take away your massive arsenal and leave you with one or two weapons, you would be severely crippled. All I ask is for you to work on getting better with your individual weapons. Your teammates would be of great help to this."

Ozpin let this sink in. The expression on Scott's face had shown that the boy had taken the news seriously. After everything he had been through, the headmaster imagined it must be quite frustrating to be told you weren't good enough.

"Alright, old man," he said, looking up with a fiery glint of determination in his eye. Ozpin blinked in surprise. Yet again, Scott had managed to catch him off guard, The last time he had suggested for a student to work on their skills, they hadn't taken the information to heart. Scott, however, was apparently ready to admit his flaws. "I'll give it a try. You are right, after all. In the Mojave, whoever carried the bigger stick won in any gunfight. That has left some bad habits in me. If a technique or strategy isn't working for me, I'll usually try to brute force my way through with a more powerful weapon."

"Excellent!" Ozpin said, lifting his coffee mug from the table. Thankfully, the beverage was still hot. "Now, we need to talk about your Aura and Semblance."

Scott let out a sigh. "I knew this was coming. Yang told you, didn't she?"

"Miss Xiao Long came to my office last night expressing her concern. Most Huntsman and Huntresses get theirs unlocked as soon as they enter one of the lower academies, like Signal."

"Yeah," he said, dematerializing his book and shooting the headmaster an annoyed glare. "Thanks for letting me know that earlier. I thought it was somewhat normal for someone to be without one. I mean, it is where I'm from."

"I actually had no clue that was the case. You have done a superb job of hiding your injuries and your strength, durability, stamina, and speed excel a normal person's. The idea that a young man was able to survive without it going through what you did is remarkable." Ozpin explained

Scott waved a hand in disagreement. "It was just a matter of luck (Ozpin noted how Scott didn't seem to believe his own words) and nothing more. What I don't understand, is what you want me to do about the Aura situation. I'm not keen on letting people see what I've done. Also, I don't think anyone could handle the emotional stress."

Ozpin smiled behind his mug and took another sip. The bitter beverage was the only way he managed to stay sane some days. Running a school of teenage warriors was no small task.

"That is a nice segway into our next topic," Ozpin said. "Your medical history and addiction problem."

Scott gave the headmaster a quizzical look.

"Problem?" he said, lighting a cigarette. "I don't have a problem."

The sheer irony of the situation had Ozpin's smile grow only wider. "I think your team would beg to differ. Anyways, I've already scheduled you with an appointment with Katherine today. You won't have to worry about missing classes, seeing as I will inform your teachers and teammates."

"And what if I refuse?" The Courier said. His hesitation was understandable. Katherine had told him about Scott's distrust of doctor's. It helped explain why he wasn't eager to go.

"Then," Ozpin said. "The council may try and find a loophole about how your medical records aren't in place and use you for themselves." A sudden thought came to the front of his mind and he grinned. "Actually, I've got a deal to make with you."

The headmaster opened a desk drawer and pulled out a thin, metal coin. They weren't in circulation anymore, being far surpassed by the more popular plastic card. However, the coin still had its uses.

"You come from a city of gamblers, right?"

Scott's face seemed to pale at the mention.

"Yeah…" he said slowly, clearly not liking the direction this was heading.

"Then we'll flip for it. Heads, you go to the doctor's. Tails, you don't have to go."

Shaking his head madly, Scott refused. "Listen, I may come from the casino city, but by no means am I lucky. I will lose this, and there is nothing you can do to change that."

"You survived two point blank gunshots to the head," Ozpin asked. "How are you not lucky?"

"That was just because of my ridiculous endurance." he said, still staring at the coin in distaste. A sudden look of amusement appeared on his face. "Here, how about I make a bet, just to show you how unlucky I truly am? I want to know if my fortune has changed."

Ozpin waved a hand, encouraging him to go on.

"If the coin lands on its side, neither heads nor tails, I go see Dr. Greene. Any other face, and I get to walk free. Deal?"

Although the odds were stacked against him, Ozpin was quite intrigued to see if Scott truly was unlucky. After all, he could always schedule another appointment with the doctor.

"Deal," he said, readying the coin.

Flicking his thumb, Ozpin launched the metal disk high into the air. It spun around seven times on the air before landing back on his desk.

Right on the side.

"Goddammit!"

* * *

"Can you hold still? I can't get a proper scan if you keep squirming around like that!"

Scott stopped moving and allowed Kate to slide him in the machine. The young man had entered her office around an hour ago, clearly there on the headmaster's instruction. They had spent that time doing his physical and checking up on his mental health. Now, she was doing a full body CAT scan. They had the machine lying around for those willing to train themselves in the medical profession, but she was really the only one to use it. Kate had insisted they do an MRI to get everything, but Scott had absolutely refused on going anywhere near the machine.

Overall, his physical health was exceptional. Despite the fact that he weighed three times what a kid his age should, he was in better shape than most of the other kids she had. The many scars that lined his torso had been worrying at first, but nothing had proven infected. In fact, what concerned her more than the injuries, was the stitching that had been done on them. It was rough and uneven, not running straight across whatever gash it was on. Her trained medical eye identified that he had probably done the job himself. That really drove home the point that he didn't trust doctors.

His mental health, on the other hand, was far from great. Scott admitted to lack of sleep due to recurring nightmares. Even when he didn't get them, he said he was an insomniac. Kate had done a basic intelligence test to measure his mental capacity. His problem solving skills and overall knowledge was incredible, easily marking him as an extremely smart student. His memorization, however, was quite worrying. Some things she'd tell him, he would repeat back right away. Other times, Scott would completely forget what was said in the span of about two seconds. She couldn't be too hard on him, though. The boy had gotten two bullets right into the cranium.

"Sorry." he mumbled, fingering the lead vest draped over his chest. Scott had been jumpy ever since she had mentioned the radioactive device. He had asked to wear the thing for extra protection. Kate was forced to pick either that, or a hazmat suit.

Running the machine around him, Katherine waited for the image to load. The tech at Beacon was top notch, even managing to give her full color imaging.

The image finally appeared on screen, and Kate took a step backward in surprise. His anatomy was unlike anything she had ever seen before. All of his bones, based on their silvery color, appeared to be either coated or made up of metal. The young man's skin was thicker and appeared extremely durable. There were many implants in different parts of his body, ranging from different sizes and shapes. Since she couldn't deduce the function of any of these implants, she moved onto items she could figure out.

When Katherine saw his heart, brain, and spine, she nearly fainted in surprise. At one point, they had all been surgically removed. The organs had all been thankfully returned, but they were all quite different from normal. Scott's brain was quite a bit larger than average, and wasn't even fully connected to his body. Later, she would have to do a test on brain activity and see how he was still alive. His spine was covered in more metal than any other bone in his body. In fact, it looked nearly unbreakable, the added metal increasing his strength and endurance. Finally, his heart. Like his brain, it was larger than average. Earlier, she had checked his own heartbeat, finding the pace to be more than double than it should in a resting state. Kate chalked that up to nerves and only now realized that was his normal pace.

Pulling him back out, Katherine helped him sit up and offered him a glass of water. Scott traded her his vest for it.

'I've never seen a body as artificially augmented as yours is," Katherine said, hanging up the vest. "Why is it like that?"

Scott chuckled, taking a sip of the clear liquid. He was fiddling with his wrist device, probably hoping the machine didn't mess it up.

"Sometimes," he began. "Even I wonder why I would do it. At this point, I'm pretty sure my body is more machine than man. But, I've never regretted it. The enhancements have saved my life."

Kate nodded, not really agreeing with what he said. However, he would divulge the information at his own time. Grabbing her Scroll off the counter, she checked CAT scan off her agenda.

"Alright, now I just need to take a blood sample and -"

The sound of shattering glass interrupted her. Scott's eyes had widened in shock, and he had dropped the cup as a result of it. Ignoring the mess on the floor, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Whatever he had seen on his wrist had surprised him greatly.

"Scott?" she asked kindly, worried of frightening the young man. "Are you okay?"

He looked at her with something akin to hope in his eyes. "I need to leave, right now. Where can I get an airship to Vale?"

The doctor sighed. Ozpin had wanted to keep him on school grounds. The headmaster was concerned that Scott wasn't ready for the city. In fact, the man had been absolutely certain in that regard. She wasn't going to argue with the man who signed her paycheck.

"Sorry," she said. "Headmaster's orders. Now, let's finish u-"

Scott had stood up and gazed at her pleadingly. "Please, I need to go. Otherwise, I'll lose something very important to me."

Kate felt her resolve waver. The young man had poured his very being into those words. For him, it was a matter of life and death.

"S-sure," Kate said, pointing out the door. "There's a Bullhead leaving for Vale in fifteen minutes. Just head down to the airship dock."

Nodding his head, Scott moved towards the door.

"Wait!"

He turned back to her at the outburst.

"What are you looking for?" she asked. From what she knew of the man, he didn't really keep anything close.

Scott gave her a weary smile.

"A friend."

* * *

 **Sorry this one took so long, I wanted to get this just right. I know this wasn't the most exciting chapter, but I needed to get some information out there. This is also a set-up for some pretty cool shit (at least I hope) next chapter.**

' **Till Next Time**

 **P.S. Wizzrobe, my man, you get the kudos. Your research went above and beyond.**


End file.
